December 17, 2021
CATCA Bulletin 2021-01
Starting today CATCA will be communicating bi-monthly with updates to keep members in the loop on current topics of interest. We recognize that over the past year there have been gaps in communication, even though there is never a dull moment. Decisions that affect members, be it NAV Canada, Transport Canada or Serco, have sometimes made life difficult for members across this country. We work for you every day to solve problems, whether it is a personal issue or one that distresses an entire unit or more. We hope these bulletins help to ease some anxious moments when timely information will be of benefit. Our regular B&Fs will also continue to be distributed, with more detailed information on specific issues.
Seniority Bid: The national bid program has been very popular this year as it is the first national bid since June 2019. Consultations between GMs and RVPs should be completed shortly, and offers are expected to be sent out in early January. You can still withdraw your name from the bid without penalty if you do it before receiving an offer. If you have any questions, contact your RVP.
Fatigue Management: NAV Canada continues to implement their recently established fatigue limits in an inconsistent and irregular manner across the country. Attempts in certain units have exposed the complexity of the fatigue issue and resulted in no improvements for controllers, while adding more logistical issues for scheduling and frustration for members. CATCA will continue to press the company to pursue more relevant approaches to fatigue management, as well as to address the primary contributor to fatigue in the ANS – chronic understaffing.
Labour Relations and Legal Update: Unfortunately, the number of grievances has continued to rise throughout this year. Several grievances are scheduled to be heard next week at Level 2, most of them individual grievances. Once those hearings are completed, NAV will have 30 days to respond. In addition, a number of grievances have been referred to Arbitration; some hearings will begin in January, but most are scheduled later in the winter and early Spring. Of particular note are the grievances surrounding the National Leave Policy which are scheduled to begin in early February.
Sick leave LOU Cancellation: Although we are going to arbitration in January over the cancellation of the Sick Leave LOU that was agreed early on in the pandemic, we continue to push NAV Canada to reverse course as the Omicron variant hits Canada hard. Given the latest updates, we have been pressing NAV Canada to instead continue to implement the LOU. The health care system continues to be under a tremendous amount of strain (as are our members) and this is simply the morally responsible thing to do for our members and the general public.
Staffing: CATCA continues to press NAV Canada on current staffing policies as we have specialties in ACCs as well as Towers that are not staffed properly. Unfortunately, NAV Canada did not address staffing in its recent Strategic Direction initiative. Instead, it appears the focus is on the future and technology at the expense of immediate operational requirements. We have been stressing the need to address this issue, as safety and service delivery continue to be put in question.
NAV Canada Union Appointee Update: CATCA is pleased to announce that at a meeting held last week by the NAV Canada Bargaining Agents Association (NCBAA), Mr. Peter Duffey and Mr. Dave Lewis were both elected to the NAV Canada Board effective in January, following the NAV Canada AGM. Last year, Peter replaced Mr. Umar Sheikh and Dave is replacing the outgoing Mr. Scott Sweatman.
ATCP: 11 towers were scheduled to drop levels in ATCP on 1 January 2021 due to the termination of previous protections in 2017. In 2020 CATCA entered into an agreement with NAV Canada to freeze ATCP for all units to protect against the impact of Covid-19 on traffic levels. Several weeks ago, NAV Canada advised CATCA that these 11 Towers will be dropping ATCP levels, regardless of the 2020 LOU. We are disputing this and will now be forced to go to arbitration as we consider this action to be a clear violation of the agreement.
On Behalf of the Executive Board,
Doug Best Scott Loder
President Executive Vice-President
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