Stories to watch this week....
1. Ontario Budget Drama: What price will the N.D.P. demand of Dalton McGuinty to keep him in power? Andrea Horwath is set to give her demands, or let us know if she intends to follow fellow Opposition Leader Tim Hudak and vote it down. In an interview with Moore in the Morning today, Horwath refused to say if she even been talking to the Liberals over the weekend.
2. The Three Amigos meet: Prime Minister Stephen Harper is meeting in Washington with President Barack Obama, with Mexican President Calderon. Items on the agenda include greater trade ties, and how to tackle the Mexican drug cartels.
3. The Rafferty Trial: Chapter #4 of the Crown's case against Michael Rafferty continues this week. Today the jury takes a tour of the field where Tory Stafford's body was found.
4. Air Canada: The union representing airline's machinists are taking the federal government to court. They're arguing the federal government's anti-strike legislation is unconstitutional because it violates the freedom of association. The pilot's union has started a similar challenge.
In Local Politics...
Note: Tonight's Community Services Standing Committee meeting has been cancelled.
Showing posts with label Air Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Air Canada. Show all posts
Monday, April 2, 2012
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Lisa Raitt vs. Air Canada Round 4
As corny, and cliched as this sounds I can see both sides on this one. On the one hand, there's a solid economic argument here for making the flight attendants an essential service. A strike could potentially ground hundreds of flights angering thousands of passengers who won't re-book with Air Canada.. ever. This could cost the airline a fair bit of money. And how much would it cost businesses who despite technology still need to meet with their employees face-to-face? Like it or not Air Canada is the only truly national airline and if it flight attendants went out on strike it could at the very least strike a crippling blow to the economy. It is the only "Canadian" airline to fly to Europe, and I think it's safe to say Asia.
On the other hand the funny thing about capitalism is the fittest survive. If Air Canada flight attendants were to strike it would significantly weaken the airline, but it would also create opportunity for the others. Air Canada serves a few destinations domestically that the other airlines don't. In its absence I have to believe the smaller airlines like WestJet, and Porter would grow to meet the demand for those destinations as well as the international ones. Air Canada would soon be deflated, and may never regain the customers it would lose.. going with this logic; let them go on strike, and would kill the airline. But thanks to supply and demand, more may rise.
You can never get everything you want in a negotiation. I've heard it mentioned in media reports the flight attendants got at least 80% of what they wanted; in my estimation that's fairly decent. After all, you can't please everyone all the time. If you give people time; everyone will complain about their jobs- Air Canada flight attendants are no different. Yes, there are disgruntled passengers and I'm sure it's a pain in the butt sometimes. Overall, from where I sit, it seems a pretty amazing job; you get paid to travel! How many of us wouldn't give our eye-teeth to do that? I definitely would.
In an ideal world when a company does well it passes the wealth around. The union would have us believe that didn't happen- the higher executives took bonuses, and ignored the workers. If that's what happened, then isn't this a bit of misguided anger? Shouldn't the flight attendants be angry at the Air Canada executives instead of the government?
Unions are here to stay. But now when the economy is so uncertain shouldn't they bend just a little bit? Maybe we should take this moment as a sign that just as the general public have to evolve in their jobs, unions should do the same.
On the other hand the funny thing about capitalism is the fittest survive. If Air Canada flight attendants were to strike it would significantly weaken the airline, but it would also create opportunity for the others. Air Canada serves a few destinations domestically that the other airlines don't. In its absence I have to believe the smaller airlines like WestJet, and Porter would grow to meet the demand for those destinations as well as the international ones. Air Canada would soon be deflated, and may never regain the customers it would lose.. going with this logic; let them go on strike, and would kill the airline. But thanks to supply and demand, more may rise.
You can never get everything you want in a negotiation. I've heard it mentioned in media reports the flight attendants got at least 80% of what they wanted; in my estimation that's fairly decent. After all, you can't please everyone all the time. If you give people time; everyone will complain about their jobs- Air Canada flight attendants are no different. Yes, there are disgruntled passengers and I'm sure it's a pain in the butt sometimes. Overall, from where I sit, it seems a pretty amazing job; you get paid to travel! How many of us wouldn't give our eye-teeth to do that? I definitely would.
In an ideal world when a company does well it passes the wealth around. The union would have us believe that didn't happen- the higher executives took bonuses, and ignored the workers. If that's what happened, then isn't this a bit of misguided anger? Shouldn't the flight attendants be angry at the Air Canada executives instead of the government?
Unions are here to stay. But now when the economy is so uncertain shouldn't they bend just a little bit? Maybe we should take this moment as a sign that just as the general public have to evolve in their jobs, unions should do the same.
CUPE protests in front of Lisa Raitt's riding office
 | |
| Protesters gather in front of Labour Minister Lisa Raitt's Office |
 | |||||||||||
| One of many protest signs |
 | |||||
| Bringing out the heavyweights: Sid Ryan is interviewed |
Video of chanting protesters... remember what I said about the camerawork.
Will have more on this later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)