On December 31, 2016, Toronto Tower passed 370,000 traffic movements on their three-year average. In the classification standard, each premium band level for towers is separated by 40,000 and the top band is 330,000 and above. This meant no matter how many airplanes Toronto Tower added to its count, there was no way for them to go up in premium.
CATCA recognized long ago that Toronto Tower was approaching a level that should trigger a new premium level. The classification working group also noted Toronto Tower as a “statistical anomaly” in the classification system. As soon as we had confirmation the threshold had been met, CATCA successfully negotiated a new premium level with NAV Canada. It should be noted that this was not part of the collective bargaining process nor does it affect collect bargaining in any way. The new premium will be $36,763 which is in keeping with 17.63% increase of each step on the ATCP premium bands. Because of unit pairing, the premium increase will also be applied to Toronto ACC.
The current system for premium bands has the lowest premium payment as level 14 and the highest at level 1. This makes it problematic to name the new premium band as well as any further premium band increases that may come. As a result, the premium bands will now be reversed. The lowest pay band will become level 1, and the highest newly created band will be level 15. This will simplify the process of adding any new premium bands in the future.
Along with Toronto Tower, all yearly unit traffic reviews have been completed, and any unit that will see any change to grade or ATCP level will be notified shortly.
In the past, CATCA has never posted a current listing of all unit grades and ATCP levels for membership review. In keeping with our practise of being as transparent as possible on all issues, going forward, CATCA will add a page to the members-only section of our website where members can log in and see unit grades and premium levels in real time.
On behalf of the Executive Board,
Peter Duffey Doug Best
President Executive Vice President
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