Faced with the major Air Transat layoffs announced for November the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is calling on the federal government to immediately deploy rapid COVID-19 screening at Canadian airports.
As a result of the layoffs Air Transat’s Vancouver base will be closed completely until further notice and the Air Transat component of CUPE has learned that the number of its flight attendant members will drop to less than 160 in November, from a total of 2,000 employees in pre-Covid times.
“All of our information indicates that Air Transat’s resumption of activities in the summer and fall of 2020 was totally safe for passengers and staff,” said Julie Roberts, President of CUPE’s Air Transat component.
A rapid screening system that provides pre-boarding results would be a crucial addition for reviving the airline industry. We sometimes forget that more than 600,000 jobs in Canada depend on this industry, directly or indirectly. What we need is an efficient federal screening programme.
In total CUPE, which is the largest union in Canada, represents more than 13,100 members in Canada’s air transport sector. In addition to Air Transat, this includes employees at Air Canada Rouge, Sunwing, CALM Air, Canadian North, WestJet, Cathay Pacific, First Air, and Air Georgian.
