THE SNAG SHEET
May 2015
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN
AIRWAYS LODGE 764
International Association
of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers
Representing Air Transport
Workers in
British Columbia and the
Yukon
Carrying our flag - Janet & Jenny Kwan
President’s Report
Inside this issue:
President’s Report
1-3
YVRAA
4-5
Airports/Cargo Report
6
Tech Ops Report
6
MTU Report
7
UAL Report
8
AC Pension Report
8-9
Political Action
10-11
New MLA
11
Some of you may have heard about it. It was in all the best newspapers. It was on TV
and the interwebs. It was such an historic event that even Peter Mansbridge talked
about it. In the province immediately to our right the citizens did the unthinkable on May
5th. They celebrated Cinco de Mayo in a most Canadian revolutionary sort of way.
They decided that they had put up with enough crap from their provincial government;
44 years of it to be exact, and wanted them removed from office. But, being Canadians
they wanted such a coup d’etat to be done in a polite and orderly sort of way.
What they did was astonishingly bold in its audacity, yet brilliant in its shear simplicity.
The citizens of Alberta, with a double, double firmly gripped in one clenched hand and a
Timbit in the other walked and ran and cycled and drove to schools, church halls and
civic meeting centers all across their province, armed themselves with a #2 black pencil
and proceeded to use it with extreme prejudice. They took those pencils, marked a lot of
big black X’s in a lot of white circles on a lot of ballots and made an old, tired and terrible
government disappear like a cheap Vegas magic trick.
Page 2
With an average age of just 38 years old, many Alberta
voters have never known anything other than a Conservative government in their lifetimes stretching back 44
years to 1971 and Peter Lougheed. They were like East
Germans overthrowing the Communist government and
tearing down the Berlin Wall. It was all they had ever
known. It was their security blanket. They vaulted themselves into the Great Wide Open with that flood of bold
and hopeful X’s.
What they did was to take a leap of faith into the unknown with the NDP party hoping and trusting that it just
had to be a better choice for government than the Conservative Devil they have known for their entire lives in
many cases. Most political commentators and pundits set
their hair on fire over the sheer lunacy of such a radical
shift in the status quo. This is Canada after all and we
are not used to this type of political radicalism unless tu
parle Francais.
Quebec has always been the home of intelligent strategic
voting both provincially and federally within the Canadian
federation. From the outside it looks chaotic and without
reason. From the inside it is always voting with intent for
change; hopefully for the better. Quebecers more than
any other political jurisdiction in Canada are willing to
take strategic political leaps of faith in order to attain their
goals. Like their beloved Rouge, Blanc et Bleu, you win
some, you lose some but they always got game.
This was also the case in Big Blue Alberta this month.
Maybe they were drunk with Red Fever for the Flames
but no matter. Albertans took a very bold political step
into the unknown in the hopes of bettering their lives and
restoring good governance for themselves and their families. I think and hope their radical political experimentation will prove to be a very pleasant surprise for most of
them.
I am fairly certain that it will be much less pleasant for 27
Conservative Albertans who are currently employed as
migrant workers in Ottawa. Hopefully their term of employment will prove to be temporary and that the voters
of Alberta will act in concert to bring them home from Ottawa and reunite them with their families in Alberta in
October.
THE SNAG SHEET
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764
In what can only be described as political Kismet by most
Canadians, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is now represented provincially by three NDP MLAs. He will now get
a chance to see firsthand how an elected servant of the
people is supposed to act and represent those voters
who have placed their trust and faith in him. Hopefully he
focuses on the whole “more citizens’ interests and less
business’ interests” thingy first and foremost. Or perhaps
he may just perform another Beatles song on his keyboard in the hope that Hey Jude will take a sad election
and make it better.
The IAM&AW has a very close and personal tie to one of
the 53 new NDP Alberta MLAs who swept into power on
May 5th. Brother Jamie Kleinsteuber, who is an 18 year
member of the IAM&AW and a proud member of LL1681
in Calgary, was elected as the MLA for Calgary Northern
Hills, defeating the Conservative incumbent in that riding
by almost 1,300 votes.
Jamie is an Air Canada employee who worked in the
Customer Service group at YYC prior to his election. He
received a great deal of support from the members of
LL1681 during his election campaign. Brothers Ryan
Wick, Kent Yanciw and Keith Aitken were amongst a
group of key political activists and supporters from
LL1681 for both Jamie and the Alberta NDP.
A lot of our Brothers and Sisters in Alberta worked very
hard to help the NDP achieve this historic political victory.
On behalf of the Executive and members of Local Lodge
764 I offer sincere congratulations and best wishes to
Brother Kleinsteuber in his new and hopefully long career
as a public servant.
As Parliament winds down their 2015 spring session in
the next month and the MPs head back to their ridings
and onto the annual summer BBQ and rubber chicken
circuit of political fundraisers you will start to see more
and more of your tax dollars being spent by the Harper
Conservative government telling you what a fantastic job
they have been doing in Ottawa for the last 10 years. As
my grandfather used to say, never let the facts get in the
way of a good story.
Page 3
The date for the 2015 Canadian federal election will be
Monday, October 19th, 2015. You will witness an unprecedented orgy of spending by all political parties
between now and then telling you how only their party
can fulfill your dreams and how only their fearless leader can keep you and your family wealthy and safe while
you sleep at night. The Conservative government will
also burn through millions more of your tax dollars on
self-promotional partisan advertising during this period
as well. It’s good to be the King.
Most of us simply try and plug our ears, shut our eyes
and pray for it all to be over as quickly as possible. October seems such a very long way away. The problem
is that is exactly what some political parties want. They
want to discourage you from voting and they certainly
want to discourage you from informed, knowledgeable
and intelligent voting. Big business cannot vote. They
recognized decades ago that they can only control democracy with huge sums of money strategically spent
to discourage targeted groups of citizens from voting.
Ironically $75 million of your tax dollars are being spent
to tell you what prudent and responsible fiscal Ninjas
the Harper Conservatives are. And that $75 Million is
just on advertising the Grand Wizardry of their 2015
budget. They want you to know how they have balanced the budget, cut your taxes, helped you save
more for your retirement and by you; I mean people
with an annual income that ends in a minimum of five
zeros.
You may have seen the recent taxpayer funded partisan vanity videos of Conservative Employment Minister
Pierre Poilievre extoling the virtues of their child-care
benefit to the same taxpayers whose money he is
spending on these self-promotional videos. Poilievre is
only 35 years old and has been a Conservative policy
researcher and MP for 15 of them. I guess it is easy to
not see the context on acceptable and unacceptable
taxpayer funded spending when your entire adult working life has been spent inside the Ottawa bubble as a
Member of Parliament.
THE SNAG SHEET
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764
As we move into the run-up to the Monday, October
19th federal election Local Lodge 764 will be engaging
with our members to encourage each and every one of
you to exercise your democratic right to get out and
vote. We have a very active Political Action Committee
and we invite any of our members who would like to
get involved with the democratic process to contact us.
The information that is available to you as voters is
contradictory, confusing and most certainly biased by
the mainstream business centric media. We will concentrate on informing our members about issues that
affect them and their families in their everyday lives
both at home and on the job. We will endeavor to simplify the issues and present the positions of the major
parties on each of these issues to help you determine
which party best represents your social, fiscal and
workplace interests.
It will be a lot of information. We hope that you take the
time to read and understand it. More importantly we
hope that you feel compelled or engaged or enraged
enough to grab your double, double and your Timbit on
Monday, October 19th and take your own walk or run or
cycle or drive to make the change you want and vote
for the Canada that you want to live in and the Canada
that you want your children to grow up in.
The Alberta Conservatives, along with many of their
federal counterparts and all of their multinational oil
and gas industry business donors and supporters
waged an enormous fear campaign during this election. Even here in BC we heard the dire warnings of the
coming of the Apocalypse if Albertans dared to vote
anything other than Conservative Blue.
My faith in Canadian common sense and decency has
been reaffirmed. I am very pleased to see that in Alberta this month, democracy defeated fear by a very large
margin of victory.
Christopher Hiscock
President,
Canadian Airways Lodge 764
Page 4
THE SNAG SHEET
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764
The 23RD YVRAA General Meeting
 cargo handled increased by 28.6 thousand tonnes
 concessions revenue increased by $20M
In 1992, Chester Johnston (former Chair of the Vancouver Board of Trade) and Grace McCarthy (former Socred
MLA and BC Cabinet Minister) were successful in obtaining transfer of the operation of the Vancouver International Airport from Federal Government authority (Federal
Ministry of Transport) to a not–for-profit Provincial Oper-
In addition, the expansion projects started under Larry
Berg are nearing completion – the new Fire Hall/
Administration Building will be operational shortly, and
the A/B Connector project with its high speed baggage
ating Authority (YVRAA).
system backbone (reduce passenger transit times international to domestic to sixty (60) minutes or less) should
There were two principal motivations for doing this.
be operational by 2016. Moreover, the first phase of the
luxury shopping mall being constructed next to the Tem-
The first was that the Federal Ministry of Transport was
glacial in approving provincial airport improvements under its jurisdiction. Federal improvements required federal money, and federal money was usually forthcoming if it
generated federal votes for the party in power.
British Columbia had a bad habit of going against the
voting pattern federally at election time, so was obliged to
beg for improvements.
The second was a ground-breaking study by Dr. Michael
Tretheway, an economist and UBC associate professor,
who tabled a study of the economic impact of airports on
provincial economies. Convinced by the findings, Chester
Johnston and Grace McCarthy used their business and
political skills to wrest the airport away from Federal Government control, and help it become the third largest economic generator for the province of British Columbia.
This brings us to the 23rd Annual General Meeting of the
Vancouver Airport Operating Authority, held Thursday,
May 14, 2015 in the East Concourse, International Terminal Building and called to order at 1530 hours by YVRAA
pleton Skytrain Station should be open for business by
July of this year.
While these numbers and project completions were excellent, YVRAA is not resting on its laurels. Other airports
(notably Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
and Dallas) are just as aggressive in pursuing airlines for
new routes to their destination as is YVRAA. Notable this
year was YVRAA’s ability to attract Air France, Icelandair,
and AeroMexico (December 2015) to Vancouver.
Increased efforts have also been made to attract more
South-East Asian and Chinese carriers, and to that end,
more resources were allocated to a YVRAA subsidiary in
Hong Kong to pursue this business. Discussions are continuing with Federal Government authorities to relax the
“Transit without Visa” (TWOV) regulations, and allow
Asian passengers minimum handling at Vancouver (with
direct bag transfer to their connecting flight) on their way
to Europe, the United States, Latin and South America.
Two TWOV pilot projects (one involving the Air Canada
London flight) are currently in the testing stage.
Also introduced were the beginning processes for the
Chair Mary Jordan.
Draft Airport Master Plan for 2057. The last Master Plan
was formulated to cover planning and projections until
YVRAA CEO Craig Richmond, who succeeded Larry
2027. A speaker to the AGM from the YVRAA Engineering Department suggested that, if the current growth rate
Berg in 2014, could not have been happier when presenting the numbers –
 revenues increased by $31.6M over 2013
 passenger traffic increased by 1.4M persons
is sustained, that some of the present Airport infrastructure will be at capacity by 2020.
Page 5
THE SNAG SHEET
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764
The Airport Authority also announced a five year pro-
These issues, and several others, will be the subject of
gram to achieve environmental sustainability goals and
reduce greenhouse gases produced by airport opera-
the June 2015 Snagsheet which will revisit the present
and future directions of YVRAA as it responds to the
tions by 33%. YVRAA is already transitioning its own
vehicle fleet to electric and low emission models where
rapidly changing air transport environment.
possible, but that will not achieve the total goal. The
biggest polluters are still the airline and ground han-
My thanks, again, to the Local Lodge 764 membership
for allowing me
dling company with fleets of gas and diesel aircraft ser-
to represent your
vice vehicles.
interests at the
YVRAA AGM.
The Airport Authority plans to address this. I am aware
that YVRAA has visions of a “common use” electric
Respectfully sub-
and low emissions service vehicle plan, with all service
vehicles owned by YVRAA, and time-shared with the
mitted.
David Varnes,
airline operators at YVR. This revelation should not
ST LL764 and
surprise the Snagsheet reader, as airline operational
control for baggage sortation and de-icing has already
Chair, History
Committee
migrated to the Airport Authority, and the long term vision is for much greater control yet.
Footnotes:
I asked for an update on the sewer line problem in the
C Gates area (I raised this issue at last year’s AGM),
and was advised that the problem had been found and
corrected. I also raised the issue at this year’s AGM of
the rat problem in the C Gate ceilings. CEO Craig Richmond responded that YVRAA is aware of the problem,
but that the rodents have proven tough to eradicate
with their rapid population growth and so much food
available in the area.
There have been four changes to the YVRAA Board of
Directors – three made by the appointing bodies account the current nominee has served three terms (the
maximum allowed under the YVRAA Bylaws), and one
replacement for a Board Member who had to step
down for medical reasons.
There were several speakers with questions at the
AGM (including myself), with the strongest comment
coming from an officer of the Fraser River Coalition
who commented, and opposed, the planned jet fuel
barge and pipeline proposal.
Dr. Michael Tretheway developed his “North Star” strategy for
the YVRAA in 1992 and a short while later his consultancy
became a subsidiary of the Airport Authority called VISTAS.
VISTAS was purchased from YVRAA by its employees in 1994
and became InterVistas, and now, after multiple mergers and
acquisitions, is part of the global transportation advisory group
Royal HaskoningDHV. Dr. Michael Tretheway is the Chief Economist and Strategy Officer for Royal KaskoningDHV. InterVistas
did $1.05M worth of untendered consulting business for
YVRAA in 2014.
YVRAA hopes to achieve total economic control of airport
activity. Such control is now enjoyed by the Airports of Singapore (Changai) and Hong Kong (Chok Lep). In these two examples, the Airport provides every service to the airline, and the
airline arrives and departs from the Airport with aircraft and
flight crews only.
Page 6
THE SNAG SHEET
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764
Airports/Cargo Report
There have been a lot of complaints from the members
about the lack of availability of the resource department.
It seems that resource has adopted a closed door policy.
LL 764 Pension Committee Report
Tech Ops Report
Shift Trade Policy Update –DL140 challenged this issue
nationally in front of YYZ arbitrator Steven Raymond on
March 25th in YYZ. This arbitration has been adjourned
The new policy is forcing the employees to either book
appointments, or communicate via e-mail. We’re not sure
until June 16th.
why the company would make such a change at a time
Summer Flying – Four (4) Cat 1s and two (2) Cat 38s
have accepted recall to YVR. These positions are to
backfill for recent retirements.
when the staff need resource assistance more than ever.
ESS is a brand new system and there was minimal to no
hands on guidance on how to navigate through it.
For the time being, the Shop Committee is strongly recommending that the members get used to using e-mail.
System Seniority List – The 2015 system seniority lists
broken down by Category have been distributed to the
Shop Stewards. The thirty (30) day appeal period ended
Send your questions to [email protected] and
on May 10th.
[email protected]. It would also be a good
idea to cc the Shop Committee. You can continue to call
resource and hope that someone picks up the phone, but
e-mail provides a record of the communication with a
Narrow Body Skill Set Meetings – Efforts to coordinate
a National Meeting amongst the Shop Committees, JTLC
representatives and DL140 General Chairmen have not
date and a time. These records can prove invaluable in
the case of a discrepancy, or if you do not receive a re-
resulted in a confirmed date. The most recent YYZ dates
were cancelled by the Company.
sponse in a timely fashion.
The company is continuing to hire Station Attendants.
Line Maintenance Sectional Transfers – Due to the
uplift in manpower to the rotational crews, several trans-
There have been several classes of new hires coming
through the new hire course in the last couple of months
fer requests were found to be out of date. Members are
encouraged to keep the Shop Committee current by sub-
and there will be more arriving in the next few weeks.
CEQ has also hired, although in smaller numbers. The
mitting (or withdrawing) their requests if their interest in
moving changes.
company is now over the allowable 25% part time cap for
station attendants. This means that they will be offering
full time upgrades immediately. We’re not entirely sure
TOSC Office Vacation – Brother Joe Toth has kindly
volunteered to step forward and handle the office duties
why they have not done so already. DL140 is currently
looking into this with Labour Relations.
while I am away on vacation. He will be in the office on
May 13th, 14th and 15th and all of the following week.
The shift trade arbitrations scheduled for late April were
Tech Ops Retirements – The Shop Committee would
like to congratulate the following Members: Joseph Chan
deferred. We are now expecting the case to be heard in
front of Arbitrator Raymond on June 16th in Toronto.
– Cat 1, Doug Preece – Cat 38 and Dominique Portal –
Cat 38 who retired on May 1st. The Shop Committee
In Solidarity,
Steve and Rod
would like to wish them a long, happy and healthy retirement.
Glenn Cooper
YVR Tech Ops Shop Committee
Page 7
THE SNAG SHEET
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764
MTU Report
Senior Stewards Report MTU Canada
sales and support team are working diligently to secure
other alternate customers and provide further work opportunities. I am confident this will be a temporary
layoff.
Unfortunately since my last report the overall workload
has been greatly reduced which has resulted in a neg-
We are fast approaching summer peak vacation time
ative impact on current manpower requirements, we
and as in past years in keeping with the spirit of fair
have seen a steady decline since the beginning of the
opportunity I will not be approving any requests to
year with engine shop visits being sporadic at best
changes to the Bid Vacation lists during July and Au-
along with reduced work scopes. We experienced this
gust after the 15th May unless there are unbid slots
same reduced workload at exactly this time last year
available or extenuating circumstances.
however the company has stated they were in a financial position to weather that storm and not lay off, pres-
Please join me in congratulating Brother Mike Twiss
ently this is not their position.
Material Controller, long term Local Lodge 764 member
and former C.A.I. employee who left the company on
rd
On Thursday 23 April the Union was informed by the
01st May 2015 with an official retirement date of 01st
employer MTU Maintenance Canada that they intend-
July 2015, may he have a long, happy and healthy re-
ed to layoff twenty three employees from the bargain-
tirement.
ing unit; the explanation for this job loss was a downturn in engine shop visits, the twenty three members
In Solidarity,
affected by this decision were from multiple classifica-
Brother Jim Mathieson,
tions and at present has been communicated as a tem-
Senior Steward MTU Canada.
porary layoff expected to be for duration of eight
weeks. Layoff notices were served to the affected
members on Friday 24th April providing them with a two
week notice period which will result in a last day of
work being 08th May.
I am pleased to report that as a result of a lot of hard
work by your Negotiations Committee and District
Lodge 140 Representative Tania Canniff we were able
to jointly agree on terms to mitigate fourteen of these
layoffs with the company by agreeing to ten temporary
assignments in the GTE Mechanic Classification at
their sister company MTU Zhuhai China for a period of
four to six weeks, this has immediately resulted in ten
layoffs having been rescinded and a further four in the
Material Controller Classification here at MTU-C. The
Union and the Company are committed to this mitigation process and will endeavour to get the rest of our
Brothers and Sisters back in the workplace as soon as
possible. I have also been assured that our customer
Page 8
THE SNAG SHEET
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764
United Airlines Report
Air Canada Pension Report
LL 764 Pension Committee Report
The Union applied for an enforcement order for the Com-
The maximum allowable (pensionable) service in any
pany to comply with Arbitrator Ready’s decision on the
registered pension plan in Canada is 35 years. Allowable
retiree medical.
service is a measure of the number of months for which
There are no further updates on the
Company’s application to the Supreme Court of BC.
you have contributed to the pension plan or were credited for contributions while on full months of GDIP or WCB.
There were some reports of errors on 2014 T4 slips.
Once you have attained 35 years of allowable service
Members should contact the Company to get issues re-
you cannot accrue any more service or make any further
solved. If there is no response from the Company to cor-
contributions.
rect the problems Members can contact Canada Revenue Agency directly for further information on how to pro-
For Air Canada type service the 35 years allowable ser-
ceed.
vice limit and the YMPE may have no effect on your final
pension depending on when you earned your best 36
There is no update on when Members who commuted
months Average Annual Compensation (AAC). However
the value of their pension can expect to receive their
for CAIL type service the formula uses the YMPE of the
transfers. As the Pension Plan is being wound up under
last 36 months that you work, even after you have at-
OSFI regulations, the process may take longer than ex-
tained the maximum 35 years of allowable service. This
pected. Members are reminded they can contact Jesal
will result in a decrease of the final value of your pension
Patidar at Towers Watson for further information.
benefit unless the increase in your AAC after you attain
35 years of allowable service is greater than the increase
There continues to be issues with seniority and service
in the YMPE during that same period.
dates for Members using their pass travel privileges.
Unfortunately the only fix for that is through the ETC,
The average annual YMPE increase from 2002 - 2015
[email protected], bring your patience and keep contact-
was 2.65%. Ex-CAIL members continuing to work after
ing them.
attaining the maximum 35 years of allowable service will
cause their final pension amount to decrease unless they
can increase their AAC at a higher rate than the increase
In Solidarity,
in the YMPE. That is because more of their pension income (everything below the YMPE ($53,600 in 2015)) is
Janet Andrews
calculated at 1.4% per year for CAIL type service and
1.75% per year for Air Canada type service. All earnings
above the YMPE are paid at 2% per year for both CAIL
and Air Canada type allowable service.
Unless the increase in your AAC is greater than the increase in the YMPE; the net effect is an erosion of your
final pension amount for each additional month of service
worked beyond the maximum 35 years. As a reference
point, the YMPE was $39,100 in 2002 and it is $53,600 in
Page 9
THE SNAG SHEET
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764
2015. So unless you had a wage increase of $14,500
below the YMPE for all CAIL type service rather than
in the last 12 years, your pension has been eroded
1.75%. Second, the maximum benefit payable for all
(smaller monthly increases) by the rules for CAIL type
years of CAIL type service is limited to $1,143 per year
service. Once you max out at 35 years of allowable
which equates to a maximum AAC of $73,230 for 2015.
service your final pension benefit will actually begin to
All service calculated for Air Canada type service has a
decrease for each additional month worked beyond the
maximum cap of $82,000. This lower AAC limit for
35 years.
CAIL type service means that the increase in the
YMPE can cause an even larger erosion of your final
For Air Canada type service the YMPE is tied to the
pension benefit. I may be contacted at presi-
same 36 month period as when you earned your AAC.
[email protected] with any questions or concerns that
Therefore, if you earn your best 36 months AAC after
you may have. You can also follow me on Twitter
attaining 35 years of allowable service and the in-
@president764 for regular pension and IAM&AW in-
crease in your AAC is less than the increase in the
formation updates.
YMPE during the same time period you will see a similar erosion in your final pension value. If you had your
Respectfully Submitted,
best 36 months AAC of say $74,000 during 2002-04,
the average YMPE for this period was $39,800. If your
Christopher Hiscock
best 36 month AAC now increases to say $75,000 for
Chairman, Air Canada IAM&AW Pension Committee
2013-15 as a result of OT or wage increases, the average YMPE during this period is $52,400.
If you attained 35 years of Air Canada type allowable
service in 2013 and earned your best 36 AAC of
Front Page Photo
$74,000 in 2002-04 you would earn the following pen-
Why electing the correct politicians is essential for the
sion - (35 years X $39,800 (YMPE) X 1.75% =
future of Canadian Unions and workers.
$24,378) + (35 years X $34,200 ($74,000 AAC $39,800 YMPE) X 2.0% = $23.940) = $48,318 annual
Stroller Brigade Childcare rally May9. Carrying our flag
pension. But if you had the same 35 years of Air Can-
Janet Andrews and MLA and federal Vancouver East
ada type allowable service but continued working and
candidate Jenny Kwan.
earned your best 36 AAC of $75,000 in 2013-15 you
would earn the following pension - (35 years X $52,400
(YMPE) X 1.75% = $32,095) + (35 years X $22,600
($75,000 AAC - $52,400 YMPE) X 2.0% = $15,820) =
$47,915 annual pension. This equates to a reduction
of $403 per year or $33.58 per month in your final
pension benefit even though your best 36 months AAC
has increased by $1,000.
For CAIL type allowable service the erosion is worse
for two reasons. First, your AAC is multiplied by 1.4%
Page 10
THE SNAG SHEET
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764
Political Action Report
Cuts to Food and rail safety: Fewer food and meat in-
LL 764 Pension Committee Report
The Harper Government finally released their delayed
spectors means more listeria and e coli outbreaks, putting our oldest and youngest family members at risk of
budget. In spite of the drop in oil prices, continued losses
of good jobs and sluggish manufacturing they persisted
terrible sickness. Not to mention the economic impact of
our meat products being banned for trade. Oil and chem-
with their ideologically driven plan to produce a balanced
budget. But what does that mean?
icals transported by rail through our neighbourhoods with
less oversight.
An opinion piece by BC MP Nathan Cullen in The Tyee
April 23 concluded that “Mr. Oliver's balance comes after
“And yet the federal budget doesn't once mention the
clean energy sector, which saw $24 billion of investment
six consecutive slash-and-burn deficit budgets, $14 billion every year in cuts from the services Canadians rely
in the past five years alone, and which employs even
more people directly than the oilsands in Alberta.” Cullen
on from their government. These are cuts to the CBC, to
policing, to veterans, to oil spill response, to healthcare,
continued. Blinded by short sighted focus on their cronies’ oil holdings, the Conservatives have ignored oppor-
to food and rail safety, and the list goes on.” So the
tunities to diversify our economy, and have stood by
‘balance’ has come at our expense. We heard from Alberta Conservative Jim Prentice that ‘math is difficult’, but
while some 400,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost.
what does that $14 billion in cuts really look like for you
and me?
But wait, there’s supposed to be Tax breaks for us, right?
Let’s look:
Cuts to the CBC: There goes the investigative reporting,
Income Splitting: If your household has only one earner,
so less accountability for those in power. Staff they
income can be split between spouses to lower the taxes
haven’t turfed are probably too afraid of losing their jobs
and are overseen by Conservative cronies. Remind me
paid. So if you are single, have two incomes, or don’t
make a living wage, you are automatically excluded from
of a regime where propaganda and an uncritical media
was a good thing? Hmm, let’s ask Stalin.
this benefit. Plus, for it to really pay you need to be making more money than practically anyone I know currently
Cuts to oil spill response: Oil spill in English Bay + clos-
working at YVR. Generous estimates have this tax break
benefitting only 15%. That’s 85% of us subsidizing those
ing Kits Coast Guard station=12 hours of response time.
that don’t really need it, and enduring all the service cuts
Tourism is a top ten economic driver in BC, wonder how
many visitors will pay to see dead wildlife and slimy
previously mentioned.
beaches? Not to mention our own health and quality of
life.
TFSA increase: Great news! You can now put double
the amount of money into a Tax Free Savings Account.
Cuts to Healthcare: There will be $5 billion in cuts to
So, when was the last time you put the current max
$5,000 a year aside in a TFSA? Yeah, me neither. I do
Healthcare in BC in the next 5 years. How much wait
have one, I put some money in the first year, the rest of
time in emergency does that equal? How many years for
that MRI, CT Scan, new hip or knee? How long before
the time I had to eat, pay bills, rent, cloth children and
stuff. Look around at your co-workers. How many of
all support services are outsourced to low paid workers
who are forced to juggle keeping superbugs out of our
them do you think had money to put aside every year?
About 1 in 100 of them, right? Hmm, why does that
hospitals between their other 2 jobs?
sound familiar? Oh yeah, it’s 1%. More inequality,
brought to you by the federal budget.
Page 11
In spite of the inequality budget and Harper ramming
THE SNAG SHEET
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764
New MLA - Jamie Kleinstuber
through the odious C-51 that will give him and his spymasters unprecedented and undefined powers to
On behalf of Local Lodge 1681, congratulations Broth-
snoop into every Canadian’s life there were some good
news stories this month.
er Jamie Kleinstuber on his successful campaign in the
riding of Calgary Northern Hills. Jamie is a member of
NDP MP Irene Mathyssen first proposed a private
Local Lodge 1681 and is now the NDP MLA for Calgary Northern Hills.
member’s bill to remove GST from feminine hygiene
products in 2011, and last week Conservative MP
Leitch announced that in a rare move the government
May 05, 2015 will certainly find its place in the political
history books of Alberta. The results were talked about
would support the Opposition motion. Canadian women (and their families) pay $36 million per year in GST
in early polling but most definitely an eye opener on the
evening of May 05, 2015 for many Albertans and Ca-
for these essential products, when things like Viagra,
wedding cake and alcohol are exempt.
nadians. For all members of Local Lodge 1681 that
made it to the polls, thank you for exercising your constitutional right to cast a ballot. For those who chose
In Alberta, the math was definitely hard for the Conservative government, when their 44 year mismanag-
not to take part, the theory that every vote counts was
certainly proven. There is a Federal election coming in
ing of the province went down in spectacular flames as
the NDP led by Rachel Notley made it look easy by
2015, you will have a second chance to make your
contribution towards political history.
winning a majority mandate. All of the ridings that
make up PM Harper’s federal riding in Calgary went
There is one very important message that we can take
NDP, as did Calgary Northern Hills, where IAM mem-
away from the provincial election and apply it directly to
ber Brother Jamie Kleinsteuber was elected as a member of the NDP caucus.
our involvement in the Labor movement. Solidarity and
casting a vote can achieve the impossible. The people
In the face of the Clark Liberals’ $230 million tax break
if Alberta came together with a common goal and delivered a party who held 4 seats to an impressive 53 seat
for the top 2% in BC at the expense of the rest of us
who are paying more for Hydro, ferries, and MSP NDP
majority because they wanted change. As we witness
the erosion of benefits, pay and quality of life in a race
Opposition Leader John Horgan has launched a cam-
to the bottom while profits and bonuses sore to record
paign to give BC families a break. They are asking for
British Columbians to tell them our priorities at
levels, it is time for us to stand together and say
enough. Attend the membership meetings, sign up for
www.BCNeedsaBreak.ca.
the bulletin distribution list, like us on face book and
follow us on twitter.
There is still time to have your say in the Transit referendum. You can call to request a ballot up to May 15,
and ballots must be received by 8pm Friday May 29.
In Solidarity,
In Solidarity,
James Burden
President
IAMAW LL1681
Janet
Local 764 Executive Board
Next General Meeting
Jun 10, 2015
5 PM
7980 River Road
Richmond, B.C.
Chris Hiscock – President
Austen Knight – Vice-President
David Varnes – Secretary Treasurer
Laura Sharpe -Recording Secretary
Chris Cheung - Trustee
Daniela Zalunardo - Trustee
Neil Carter – Educator
Dave Marshall - Trustee
Melissa Revoy – Conductor/Sentinel
Gordon Taylor – Communicator
Glenn Cooper - Tech-Ops Shop Chair
Steve Prinz - Airports/Cargo Shop Chair
Jim Mathieson – Senior Steward MTU
Janet Andrews – Senior Steward UAL
Ron McKelvie – Clerical Chief Shop Steward
WE’RE ON THE WEB!
WWW.IAM764.CA
The Snag Sheet is published 10 times per year :
CANADIAN AIRWAYS LODGE 764
7980 RIVER ROAD,
RICHMOND, B.C. V6X 1X7
< CHARTERED 1941 >
IN MEMORIAM
N/A
EDITOR: Gord Taylor
WEBMASTER: Gord Taylor
Office: (604) 273-9668
Fax: (604) 273-9670
E-mail:
[email protected]
All monthly issues are available
online by visiting the Lodge website: