November 26, 2020
Response to NAV Canada Memo
As many of you will have read, NAV Canada issued a memo (attached) earlier today outlining the ongoing financial issues and their plans to address them. The memo issued by Ben Girard is very concerning to CATCA. It is the opinion of this Union that safety is not being taken into consideration in making sound decisions. The pandemic is the worst crisis we have been through and yet the same mistakes that have been made in the past are being made all over again. Unfortunately, this time the Company is cutting deeper than ever before.
At this time NAV Canada has not invoked Article 33 of our Collective Agreement for any ACC. The units affected to date are Vancouver TMU West, as well as the seven Towers associated with the Level of Service reviews. For the latter, we have been assured by NAV Canada that there are jobs within the Vancouver ACC for the TMU controllers, and for all affected Tower members, in the event any reviews are successful. That said, CATCA is opposing all the reviews with the full backing of our membership.
We continue to work with NAV Canada and have asked them to open Targeted DIP’s up to all ACC members regardless of staffing level. It is our hope there will be enough interest in the departure incentives to protect all our members. We encourage any member who may be interested in receiving a DIP as outlined in Appendix F of the Collective Agreement to advise their Regional Vice President as soon as possible. Please take note that this may be an exercise that NAV Canada may not agree to but we are trusting the right decisions will be made.
To date your Executive Board has provided the Company with viable solutions to assist them through these difficult times, none requiring the layoff of Air Traffic Controllers or affecting the safety of the flying public. In return we received a “no thank you” from NAV Canada.
It is the opinion of CATCA that the views of NAV Canada at this point are violating the vision, mission and overarching objectives of this company. Safety is the number one priority of NAV Canada and it has somehow taken a backseat to cost containment as the number one and only priority.
Your Executive Board will continue to challenge the Company on the decisions they are making and will be working to keep every member employed for as long as we are able.
In Solidarity,
Doug Best Scott Loder
President Executive Vice President
Click here for the PDF.