The Pilots of ALPA - Air Line Pilots Association

THE PILOTS OF ALPA
First Air
Flightcrew
Members Spread
Their Wings
By Rusty Ayers, ALPA
Senior Communications
Specialist
FAB at a Glance
Founded: 1946, as Bradley Air
Service, First Air is now owned
by Makivik Corporation.
Pilots Joined ALPA: 2008
Number of Flightcrew
Members: 130
Pilot Bases: Ottawa, Ont.;
Yellowknife, NT; Iqaluit, NU;
and Edmonton, Alb.
Headquarters: Kanata, Ont.
Operations: First Air provides
scheduled passenger and
cargo service between 30
northern communities as well
as charter service worldwide
Fleet: 6 B-737-200s, 1 B-767F,
9 ATR 42-300s, 2 Lockheed
L-382 Hercules, 1 Hawker-
Siddeley 748
Two years after joining
ALPA, the pilots and
flight engineers of First
Air are working with management
to improve working
condi tions at the airline
while adding new service in
response to increasing
pressure from competitors
in the Canadian
Arctic.
The flightcrew
members’ contract expired
Dec. 31, 2010, and they
have been in negotiations
since early December after
assembling a Negotiating
Committee and developing
a bargaining strategy. Using
an interest-based bargaining
process, negotiators have
passed dozens of proposals
across the table and have
tentatively agreed to several
contract sections within just a
few weeks of talks.
Capt. Jamie Biggs, the
cockpit crewmembers’ Master
Executive Council (MEC) chairman,
says a major goal for the
pilots’ first ALPA contract is to
standardize contract language
so that the collective bargaining
agreement more closely
resembles the contracts of
other ALPA pilot groups.
“Our contract is structured
differently from those of other
ALPA pilot groups. We want
to restructure our contract
language so that it’s easier to
compare our compensation,
benefits, and work rules with
those of our peers, and management
has been helpful so
far in agreeing to those structural
changes,” Biggs explains.
First Air flight crews fly to
some of the most isolated
places in the world, providing
a vital lifeline of food, fuel,
mail, and other necessities
to Arctic communities. In
addition to its fleet of combiconfigured
B-737 classics
and turboprops, the airline
operates a B-767 freighter
CAPT. RORY KAY (UNITED)
and the only civilian-operated
Lockheed Hercules transports
in Canada. These civilian
C-130s are in great demand
for charter flying, usually
providing heavy lift for mining
and petroleum companies
but also for unusual operations,
including disaster relief.
After a January 2010 earthquake
devastated Haiti, both
the Hercs and the B-767 were
kept busy transporting an
entire portable water treatment
plant and other relief
supplies to rescue workers.
The Canadian government
Capt. Jim Merritt stands in
front of a Lockheed L-382 on
Doris Lake, Nunavut, Canada.
pays airlines to fly needed
commodities such as food
and mail into isolated areas
on regular schedules. These
food-mail contracts, an essential
component of First Air’s
revenue, are now being administered
by three northern
retailers instead of Canada
Post, a change that could lead
to more competition and
lower revenues for northern
airlines that fly food-mail
routes.
At the same time, First
Air, which once had a nearmonopoly
in serving much
of the north, is facing new
competition from other
airlines serving its routes,
including Air Canada, WestJet,
and CargoJet. The airline’s
response is to partner with
a tribal corporation to begin
new service to seven communities
in the Kivalliq region of
Canada’s Nunavut Territory.
An Inuit-owned corporation
itself, First Air’s new Kivalliq
service will extend the airline’s
reach from the central
and eastern parts of Nunavut
into the northwest.
Unlike many negotiations
in which compensation is the
major issue, quality of life—
especially while on trips—is
equally important for the
flightcrew members. Because
food, housing, and the basic
necessities of life are extraordinarily
expensive in the
Arctic even with government
subsidies, pilots working at
the Iqaluit base and elsewhere
live in “crew houses” under
rudimentary conditions.
“Think of a dormitory or a
crash pad, only not nearly as
luxurious,” says Biggs. “Our
younger pilots especially
spend many of their off-duty
hours sitting in cramped
crew houses with very little to
occupy their time. Improving
their comfort is a priority in
these contract talks, especially
since we will likely be creating
new crew accommodations
in the northwest as our flying
expands into Kivalliq.”
First Air flightcrew
members have long been
represented by an in-house
union, the First Air Pilots
Association. FAPA leaders
agreed to join ALPA in 2008,
recognizing that membership
in a large, powerful international
union would give them
a much greater voice and
bargaining power.
“It was a good decision
for us,” Biggs points out. “We
now have substantially deeper
financial resources and staff
support than we ever had
when we were a stand-alone
union, but we still have the
sovereignty to make our own
decisions.”
January/February 2011 Air Line Pilot 35