PAL pilots stage protest in push for new contract

PALpilots rallied quietly at a downtown St. John's hotel Monday morning to put pressure on the regional airline for a new contract that addresses demands about pay and working conditions.

About two dozen pilots stood in silence in the Delta Hotel's lobby awaiting the arrival of negotiators, includingexecutives with PAL Aerospace and representatives from the Air Line Pilots Association, the union that represents the pilots.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which provides conflict resolution to trade unions and employers, was expected to attend the talks.

The pilots held signs reading "No Takeoff Without the Pilots" and "PAL: People Against Labour," among other messages.

ALPA spokesperson Wanda Clarke said she hopes this week's talks will be the last.

"We're not asking for big-city wages," she said. "We're just asking for an industry standard collective agreement comparable to our colleagues in the industry."

The union has also been campaigning to attract publicattentionto its concerns. On Monday, it bought a full-page ad in the St. John's Telegram newspaper. The union has also bought at least one high-profile billboard in the city to outline its take on outstanding issues.

Clarke said PAL pilots have been trying to secure a satisfactory collective agreement for over two years. She said a sluggish response from the company's executive team is to blame.

"It's been dragged out for over two years. Management keeps stalling," she said. "And this is why we're here today. So this is another meeting and possibly the last one, but maybe not. We hope so. We're ready for this contract and we deserve this contract."

Clarke said the fact PAL pilots fly in "some of the worst weather in our country" is one reason they deserve better wages.

"But management doesn't seem to agree to that," she said.

PAL senior vice-president JosephGalimberti said in an emailto CBCNews on Monday that the company "looks forward to resuming our negotiations with the pilot group this afternoon."

Strike thwarted by threats of further delays

ALPA filed for conciliation in September, which essentially set a three-month deadline to reach a satisfactory agreement or risk a strike.

Conrad Reid, a pilot who chairs an ALPAcommittee representingAir Borealis and PAL Airlines pilots,said Monday that the union has caught wind of federal talk about having PALdeemed an essential service.

"We looked at this as a bad faith bargaining tactic," he said.

Describing opposingtactics during an interview with CBC News, he added:"[PAL] at no point through negotiations ever brought up an essential service, but now at the 11th hour, with a 100 per cent strike vote, [they're] going to pull this card that could potentially stop us from self help for up to 18 months."

In a statement, a spokesperson for Labour Minister SeamusO'Regansaid the federal government has referredthe matter of protecting services "necessary for the health and safety of Canadians" to the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

"The parties had the opportunity to establish the protection of these services on their own, according to processes and timelines outlined in the Canada Labour Code, but did not," said the spokesperson.

"The government believes that the best agreements are reached at the bargaining table," said the spokesperson. "The government has supported these negotiations and will continue to do so, while also continuing to monitor the situation."

Reid said he hopes this week's talks give pilots what they've been asking for for more than two years: fair payand advantages that are on par with their aviation peers across the country.

"We're doing the same work, we've got the same capacity planes," he said. "We just want to be treated like the rest of Canada."

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