Growth and Action
By Capt. Tim Perry, ALPA Canada President
Looking back on the last 24 months, I can confidently say that what ALPA Canada has accomplished has been nothing short of extraordinary.
We’ve witnessed phenomenal growth. In fact, our Association now represents more than 95 percent of unionized pilots across Canada working for 21 airlines. Looking ahead, I’m confident that through our dedication and unity, we’ll see these numbers climb further while we continue to assert ourselves as the voice of the airline piloting profession in Canada—and as one of Canada’s most influential labour organizations.
ALPA is pilot led and staff supported, and our staff is the best in the world. But I’m especially proud of our pilot group volunteers for their ongoing efforts to do the painstaking, essential work of advancing aviation safety in Canada and securing collective agreements for our members. Work in these areas creates the bedrock on which our members’ professional lives rest.
Our efforts to improve safety and working conditions don’t stop at our borders. ALPA Canada works extensively within the international pilot community through our member association at the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA), which has observer status at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Our members work in a global industry, and I believe this obliges us to direct energy to raising the international bar, both with respect to air safety and labour standards.
In 2024, we also took another positive step by joining the International Transportation Workers Federation (ITF), connecting our members with nearly 17 million other transport workers at 740 global transport unions across 150 countries. In a similar way that IFALPA engages with ICAO, the ITF advances workers’ interests at the International Labour Organization. There’s strength in numbers, and we look forward to further strengthening our relationships with our global partners.
We’ve also taken strides to ensure our voice is heard and respected while navigating the halls of Parliament and public service. Fostering solid working relationships with lawmakers and policy makers in Ottawa—from all political stripes—is of the utmost importance as we fight to safeguard Canadian pilots against industry calls for the government to relax or roll back Canada’s safety and labour regulations. This fight is most acute regarding fatigue regulations. ALPA Canada vehemently opposes any attempt to weaken or suspend flight- and duty-time regulations. As we all know, fatigue regulations are safety regulations, and exemptions and relief from these regulations for commercial operators compromise safety and increase risk to our passengers and flight crews.
Free and fair collective bargaining rights also remain in focus during our government interactions following several instances of government interference in the collective bargaining process over the past calendar year. The Canada Labour Code strives for balance in collective bargaining, and those actions by the Canadian government amount to putting its finger on the scales. It’s always in the best interests of both sides to negotiate contracts in good faith at the bargaining table while being allowed to utilize the functions available under the code, including strike and lockout provisions. When the government gets involved, employers lose focus on the hard work of collective bargaining, making good outcomes harder to reach, leading to highly unstable resolutions at the 11th hour of contract negotiations.
Regarding collective bargaining, it’s difficult to overstate the importance of the passage of Bill C-58—the ALPA-backed antireplacement worker and essential services legislation. ALPA’s input and the bill’s passage were a giant step toward fairness at the bargaining table for all Canadian workers.
We’re also proud to have partnered with the Canadian Air Traffic Control Association to unveil a comprehensive white paper entitled “Charting a Path for the Future of Canadian Aviation.” The paper outlines actionable recommendations to ensure a safe, resilient, proworker aviation system amid an industry plagued by deregulation, underinvestment, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a lack of a coherent and collaborative vision for the future. We’re confident that if government, industry, and labour find a way to work together, we can create a system that functions better for everyone—from passengers to frontline workers to those living in remote communities that depend on air access.
As I’ve said many times before, and will continue to repeat, we each do better when we all do better. I look forward to what 2025 has in store for us all.
