Workers Movement

Interview with Jeff Taylor (JT), President, CUPE Air Canada Component, and Daniella Scarpelli (DS), CUPE National Rep

- with DISCUSSION (D), Vancouver Co-Op Radio, September 7, 2011. Minor editing changes have been made.

D: There are 6500 flight attendants working for Air Canada. Flight attendants are highly skilled professional safety workers. Jeff, remind us about the important responsibilities you carry in your work.
JT: As you know, we are the front line for safety and security of the passengers. We go through an extensive training to make sure that everyone is safe, and highly qualified to deal with terrorism situations, emergencies, fires, you name it, we're trained. We deal with about 90,000 passengers at Air Canada daily. We have senior people, probably close to age 60, right down to people around 21 years of age working in our component.
CB: Danielle can you tell us about the history of the unionization of Air Canada cabin crews.
DS: Originally they were unionized with CALSA which then merged into the Canadian Union of Public Employees. We represent most flight attendants across Canada and we are very proud of the flight attendants and the work that they do.
CB: Tell us about the vote on August 27th on the issue of accepting or rejecting a tentative agreement that the bargaining committee signed with the company.
DS: The tentative agreement that we presented to our members was rejected. The membership is very disturbed at how they've been treated for the last ten years, and they are not going to accept anything other than what they feel is fair.
JT: I can speak about some of the things that have happened in the last ten years. In 2003 we took a 10% pay cut during SARS and all that, to sort of keep the company viable, and then we went into a CCAA situation in 2004, in which we gave up another 3%, a week's vacation, several big work rules that affected our group, and then in 2009 we went into non-concessionary bargaining and we went into a pension moratorium that was to last until 2014.
CB: A 13 percent cut in pay excluding inflation means a sharp cut in standard of living.
JT: Flight attendants are earning a lot less now than they were in 1992.
CB: Did Air Canada, in this recent round of negotiations, attack your pension plan?
JT: They are trying to attack the pension plan, to get concessions of 25% from all the union groups. It has been said that our pension plans are a bit too rich and are not competitive with industry standards, but, you know, a lot of the union groups have made major concessions throughout the years, as well, in order to get some of those pension gains, and now they seem to be on the attack to reduce that.
CB: The companies seem to be whip-sawing one group of workers after another, to eliminate defined benefit pensions, deny them to the younger generation, and, in the case of the Steelworkers in Hamilton, they want to cut the COLA clause for 9000 retirees who had that signed in a contract years ago.
DS: This seems to be the trend in Canada these days.
CB: What were the meetings of the workers in August like?
JT: It was very emotional for the members. I myself have been flying for 25 years. I have never seen my group so angry in 25 years. Basically they find themselves in a situation where they are not being appreciated, they are not being respected. They have made major concessions to Air Canada. They are the face of the company, but yet they don't seem to be getting any of that recognition and feel insulted by some of the proposals that were presented to them.
DS: At this point in time we cannot give specifics about the proposals. The members did not like what they saw. 78% of the membership voted, which is unprecedented for this group.
JT: The turnout was significantly high and they voted 87% against it.
CB: We have seen companies, and especially Air Canada, use the threat of legislation to impose their will on the workers.
JT: They are strong-arming the unions today, for sure, with the government on their side. It makes it very difficult.
DS: Unfortunately we got a taste of it with the Canadian Auto Workers group that represents the ground agents. It's definitely in the forefront of all bargaining units that are currently at the bargaining table.
CB: Today, as you point out, it's a kind of blackmail or dictate and the old social contract that came into being after WWII is being shredded in front of us. Have you given thought to how workers can cope with this?
DS: I think the most important thing for all workers and Canadians as well, is that we need to stand united. We can't allow corporations or the government to erode the work that the unions and our ancestors and our parents and generations before us have done on behalf of not only us, but generations to come. We have to stand up and start speaking against what is currently happening.
JT: We have to say "enough is enough" and protect the rights that our forefathers won for us.
CB: What is the response you are getting from the media to your struggle?
DS: Most media has been very sympathetic to us. Unfortunately, individuals like Kevin O'Leary have been definitely putting out the wrong message, speaking against workers, speaking against the right to strike and the fact that his vacation plans may be affected by a possible labour disruption only flies in the face of the workers who have made so many sacrifices over this past decade.
CB: What is the message you would like out listeners to carry to their fellow workers and friends when they are talking about the Air Canada cabin workers?
JT: We have a letter-writing campaign set up on one of our websites and if the public can support us on that, and get as many people as possible to participate in it. It's www.cupe.ca/airlines, and it would really help us to get a message out to the government and to our CEOs that "enough with the corporate greed and start looking after your employees". Common decency and respect is what we really want.
CB: Are there negotiations scheduled?
DS: We are currently in negotiations at this time. We are participating in the mediation process through the federal mediators.
CB: Isn't it time that we asked that this airline system be given back to Canadians as a public company. It seems to me that since it's been privatized, it is not as customer-friendly as I recall it.
DS: The unfortunate thing about that is the Canadian public is suffering the consequences of exactly what you are saying. It has become a corporation like any other corporation and that "Canadian feeling" seems to have disappeared, unfortunately. We would like to regain that for all Canadians.
JT: Since being privatized, they basically have stripped away Air Canada. Air Canada is pretty much a shell today. It's nothing like it was when it was originally privatized. They've sold off all kinds of pieces of it: the Aeroplan section, JAZZ, maintenance. They're not looking for the long term viability of a huge company like it was. At one point it even had its own flight kitchens.
CB: How have the company's tactics changed over the last decade?
Jt: I've just been at the bargaining table since April. I just took office. I'm newly elected but I've been around for the various contracts and have seen what's been going on. I did notice that prior to the CAW strike, that the whole mood at our table changed because they got a taste of what the legislation was going to be, so that was a big eye-opener for us. It's been very concessionary to take, on what they're after from the members.
DS: In essence the more the company has grown financially the less it seems that the employees have been given in return. The employees have not grown with the company. If you go to the website you will see photos of some of the issues that we are dealing with right now in regards to flight attendants having to sleep in sleeping bags and not being given the respect that they deserve.
JT: Our work schedules and pairings, that is when you start a cycle and finish a cycle, we used to have layovers, and you would get proper rest. Now they are going very late at night, flying all night, and then probably sitting at an airport for four hours waiting to take a flight back. They haven't had any rest. They've been up all night and nowhere to sleep. We have some of our flight attendants who are carrying sleeping bags in their crew suitcase, and sleeping in the airport chapels. It's unheard of and it's all for the sake of saving a small dollar for putting in their pocket versus looking out for their employees. Our employees have won year after year for the past two years, best flight attendants in North America, and our company chose to give us a luggage tag in respect for that. That, to me, could not be any more insulting.
CB: In the situation you are facing you have the tremendous resource, 6500 very angry workers who really want to have a decent contract, so that is an enormous power on your side. At the same time you're facing, as you point out, a Harper majority government that has already legislated the postal workers. It was prepared to criminalize the Air Canada ticket agents strike, so they clearly have intentions to go right to the wall with these corporations and to, really, legislate you out of your collective bargaining rights. This is a very serious threat to all workers, to the entire Canadian working class.
DS: Absolutely, but we hope that with the strength of 600,000 CUPE members across Canada as well as the 6500 flight attendants that we are very proud of for showing the strength that they are showing these days, united and standing behind us, that we will achieve the fair and equitable contract that they so deserve.
CB: When will the public learn what you plan to do and what your possibilities are?
JT: in the next week and a half you're going to be inundated with information about what's going to transpire as we move forward through the process and we get closer to either getting a contract or face what could be legislation that is not going to benefit anybody that's in the labour force.
DS: The bargaining unit hopes to avert a strike. However, we are in the position that we will continue to bargain until such time as a fair tentative agreement is achieved, or until the strike deadline, whichever comes first, and we hope that it's the tentative agreement.
CB: Highlight the main demands that you have for the company at this time?
DS: Our major attempts at this time are all in regards to pensions, better working conditions, and fair wages.

Background on Allegations

- Project Fly Home, August 11, 2011 -

Allegations dismissed by the Federal Court, CSIS, RCMP and Transport Canada

These are not new allegations. The airplane plot is not a new story. A different report, referring to the same alleged conversation, was leaked to La Presse in June 2007, at a critical point in Adil Charkaoui's case. (At the time, the RCMP announced that it was launching a criminal investigation into the leak of the secret report. CSIS said it was conducting an internal investigation into how their secret report came into the hands of journalists. No results from either investigation have ever been made public.) The 2007-leaked report was subsequently made available to the Federal Court, which went out of its way to conclude, in January 2008, that there was no proof to substantiate the allegations of a plot to blow up a plane. The Federal Court judge who threw out Charkaoui's certificate in 2009 came to a similar conclusion in her judgements on this case.

In Abdelrazik's case, both CSIS and RCMP stated in formal letters to the federal government in October 2007 that they had, for all intents and purposes, no information that Abdelrazik was involved in any criminal activity. It was on the basis of these letters that the Canadian government submitted an application for Abdelrazik to be removed from the UN Security Council's blacklist in 2007 (the letters are available on Project Fly Home's website). Neither man was ever charged in connection with the allegations contained in the leaked documents.

Similarly, it is important to note that neither Abdelrazik nor Charkaoui are on Canada's no fly list. During a speaking tour organized last year, Abdelrazik took several flights across Canada. Charkaoui has also flown in Canada since his security certificate case crumbled in 2009. This means that Transport Canada, apparently the recipient of this purported CSIS document, did not take the story seriously.

"Always on the radar" and racial profiling

Another explanation about why certain people keep reappearing on the radar is that they are "in the sites": whether because of their profile (e.g. pious Muslim, politically active Arab); or because CSIS has a certain theory about what constitutes suspicious behaviour (travelling to certain countries or praying); or because of some triggering event (such as a neighbour seeking revenge). Once a person comes onto the screen of the security agencies, they become a 'person of interest'; they are tracked. More scrutiny leads to more "incidents" - behaviour that could be perfectly innocent but which someone seeking to justify an inquiry might construe as suspicious.

In legal circles there is a phenomenon called "tunnel vision": the police develop a theory about someone and systematically gather or even seek out information that tends to support that theory while disregarding or discarding information that would tend to undermine it. This particular kind of unfairness has been the subject of scrutiny by the courts in criminal cases. CSIS has often come under criticism for building its cases in this way.

Irresponsible journalism compounding injustice

In the second instance, the article, in its form and its content, represents an instance of irresponsible and sensationalizing journalistic and editorial practice. The main article treats as factual and as straightforwardly true the information contained in the CSIS documents leaked to La Presse. This, despite serious questions about the validity of the leaked information raised by lawyers representing the two men. The information is questioned in respect of its timing and purpose, its veracity and reliability. Yet, the La Presse writer constructs the story as if the information contained in the leaked documents (the allegedly transcripted phone conversation) was truthful and authentic. At certain points, he even embellishes the story, adding in elements of his own to make it more sensational.

Rather than make the story's focus the context and the circumstances of the leak - the veracity and reliability of the information contained in the leaked documents, the motive behind publishing the allegations at this time and in this way, the way that CSIS conducts its investigations-, Mr. Normandin chooses to put the alleged conversation at the centre of the story. While this may give the story more sensationalistic appeal, it does so at the expense of truth and justice and at the expense of the two men who have been struggling to free themselves from the unfair and draconian measures and processes to which they have been subject for many years. La Presse has simply compounded the injustices that have resulted from the punitive measures used against the two men: security certificates in the case of Charkaoui and the UN 1267 sanctions regime in the case of Abdelrazik. Both men have been fighting the unjust punitive practices to which they have been subject including the holding of secret trials, torture or the threat of torture, the use of secret evidence to justify punitive measures, the denial of an opportunity to fairly respond to accusations in a independent tribunal, and being treated as guilty by association.

Feeding Islamophobia and racism

This kind of imaging simply continues a pattern of negative portrayal of Arabs and Muslims, especially Arab and Muslim men, prevalent in North American media for decades. It is a shameful instance of stereotyping.

Additionally, the presentation of the profiles of six men ("Six portraits") includes no explanation or contextualization. The effect is to leave open to interpretation the meaning of the collection of portraits. It is especially misleading to include the portrait of Abu-Zubaida among the six. It suggests that there is some sort of connection between him and the others, while none exists. Moreover, the US has radically changed its position on Abu-Zubaida, no longer believing that he is the important figure they once believed him to be. The section appears simply as gratuitous sensationalism.

More information:
Project Fly Home - People's Commission Network
projectflyhome@gmail.com

Bomb Plot Leak to La Presse and the Minister's Response

- Maher Arar*, August 7, 2011 -

The latest bomb plot information (or misinformation) that was leaked to La Presse implicating both Charkaoui and Abousfian should make every Canadian concerned about how national security information is being disseminated in the public domain without checks and balances, and most importantly, without going through the proper judicial channels.

To start with let us briefly and carefully review this information which is now found on almost every major news web site in Canada.

In summary, the information, part of which seems to be recycled, relates to an alleged "encrypted" phone conversation that took place in the year 2000 during which both Charkaoui and Abousfian discussed a potential bomb plot to blow up an unspecified commercial plane. Moreover, it states that shortly after the interception of this alleged phone conversation CSIS found traces of explosives in Abousfian's car.

Without arriving to a conclusion on the credibility of this information, which only a judge with full access to all documents can do, the timing and the nature of this leak raises very important questions of national importance:

One wonders why such information was not disclosed to both men's lawyers during the legal proceedings so that they could challenge it a in proper context. Even more puzzling is the fact that even the judge presiding over the hearings have not had access to this information! According to Paul Champ, Abousfian's lawyer, a decision is expected soon on efforts to get the United Nations Security Council to remove his client from a no-fly list.

Most puzzling of all was Minister Kenney's response to this leak when contacted by the media. "All I can say is that I hope those who form these political support groups for individuals who have been the focus of security certificates or similar extraordinary efforts on the part of government think very carefully about this", he said. "I hope that people will realize that the government does not take these measures lightly, and that these measures are only taken on the basis of very compelling evidence that such individuals mean Canada harm and no good.", he added.

Instead of raising concerns that a national security information is being leaked to the media, which clearly constitutes a criminal offense in Canadian law, Mr. Kenney directs his frustration at the activists who are working on the two men's behalf. Moreover, his statement suggests that Canadians should blindly trust their government in these matters.

I have two issues with this latest suggestion. First, history has shown that security agencies can get things wrong, contrary to the suggestion made by the Minister. Second, it is the duty of every citizen in a democratic society to question the actions of his/her government. This latter point constitutes the main difference between a democracy and a dictatorship where citizens are not allowed to voice out their opinions or get involved in any meaningful civic activism.

I hope the Minister issues a follow-up statement to clarify his position. I am someone who believes that we should always give people the benefit of the doubt. As a Minister he may have been wrongly briefed on the matter or he may have been very stressed out because of his intensive business and travel schedule.

This leak also raises ethical questions about the role the media is playing to inflict further damage on these two men's reputations.

It is ironic that La Presse chose not to mention the names of the Transport Canada security officials whose names were found in the same document. Are these people's reputations more worthy to preserve than those of Mr. Charkaoui and Mr. Abousfian?

It seems the media has paid little or no attention to what Justice O'Connor wrote in his report: "Labels, even unfair and inaccurate ones, have a tendency to stick."

The role played by the media in negatively shaping public opinion about these men is no less important than that of those who leaked the information.

As I said in a previous blog post "If anything the security people in Canada have mastered is the art of selectively leaking investigative information to the media. By doing so they have succeeded in charging and convicting the arrested individuals in the court of public opinion. Of course this wouldn't have been possible without the direct complicity of some journalists and reporters."

Will Minister Kenney advise Minister Toews, the Minister of Public Safety, that an investigation is warranted in this case in order to find the source of the leak?

Only time will tell.

*Maher Arar, founder of Prism magazine, article

Novembver 4, 2011 Bulletin • Return to Index • Write to: editor@cpcml.ca