The CATCA bargaining committee met in Ottawa on Monday, January 16 to prepare for the third session of talks with NAV Canada.
Monday and Tuesday were devoted primarily to summing up the issues that have agreement in principle; and reviewing both Company and Union demands which are still on the table, awaiting further discussion. The CATCA team also met with Unifor economist Kaylie Tiessen, who briefed the group on the general state of the economy. She gave a historical look at controller staff levels, compensation, safety, and productivity improvements, as well as an analysis of improvements and prospects for aviation traffic levels and NAV Canada revenues.
A similar presentation was made to the NAV Canada bargaining team on Wednesday. During that presentation, President Peter Duffey highlighted once again how improved productivity on the part of a smaller complement of Controllers had successfully handled increased traffic and contributed significantly to the Company’s financial success.
On Thursday, for the first time, discussion began with NAV Canada on monetary issues. It should be noted that this does not mean that all the “non-monetary” issues have been resolved. It was felt that enough progress had been made on other issues that we could now start the monetary negotiation process.
The bargaining committee concluded the week’s work on Friday. Next meetings are scheduled for the week of January 30, again in Ottawa.
In solidarity,
Peter Duffey Doug Best
President Executive Vice President
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