Who is Unifor?

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, with more than 315,000 members across the country, working in every major sector of the Canadian economy.

What have we done?

During COVID-19, Unifor fought tirelessly for a National Recovery Plan for Aviation and held rallies, news conferences, lobby meetings and was instrumental in securing the bailout package for the sector.

In April 2021, the federal government announced measures to help protect good jobs that acted as an important step on the road to economic recovery, creating “a good balance of certainty for communities large and small, the company, and its workers,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias.

This was on top of the historic collective agreement Unifor bargained with Air Canada customer sales and service agents and customer relations representatives in March 2020, mere weeks before the pandemic began. The agreement included improvements to wages and benefits, improved job security provisions and an enhanced flexible time bank.

Under previous contracts, workers hired after 2004 were paid less. Those members will see an increase of up to 75% in compensation over the life of the collective agreement, creating a higher standard of those working in the service industry.

Also, at Air Canada, the previously bargained five-year minimum recall period has meant less uncertainty for Air Canada customer service and sales representative members as travel restrictions and subsequent layoffs have dragged on.

During the pandemic, Unifor negotiated collective agreements for multiple bargaining units in the aviation sector including members at Nasittuq, Sunwing and Perimeter.

At Nasittuq, members will see duty premiums increase, gain paid education leave, experience enhancements to health and safety provisions and access to training.

At Sunwing, we negotiated wage increases and enhanced benefits to provide for better working conditions for pilots.

At Perimeter, members will experience improvements to overall work-life balance through a reduction in hours worked yearly, additional hours for mandatory rest periods, and improved wages over the term of the new agreement bargained in 2021.

In late 2020, our members at Canadian North ratified an agreement that included a signing bonus, new uniform credit, a joint scheduling committee to deal with scheduling issues and the combination of Sick and Family days into interchangeable wellness days.

Some of the other workplaces Unifor represents in the aviation industry include Airport Terminal Services, Swissport-Vancouver, Air Terminal Services, Garda in Regina, EVAS, and Jazz Aviation.

Together, with the Unifor Pilots Association of Canada and Unifor’s Aviation Council, the union recently responded directly to Health Canada’s Expert Advisory Panel on COVID-19 Testing and Screening’s Priority strategies to optimize testing and quarantine at Canada’s borders, to ensure the needs of our members in the aviation sector are heard and considered in Canada’s road to recovery plan.

In November, the Council of Unions – of which Unifor is a member of – applauded an agreement backed by Air Canada to strengthen retirement incomes for workers for the long-term, putting more money in the pockets of thousands of current and future retired employees on the company’s defined benefit pension plans.

What will we do?

Unifor represents front line airport workers in multiple job categories including security guards, customer service representatives, terminal employees in Calgary and Toronto and baggage service agents. We currently represent 16,000 members in the air transportation sector and 1,000 security guards in multiple industries across the country, including ASP Security, Garda, Calgary Airport Terminal, WestJet, Canadian North and Securitas.

We are here to ensure GardaWorld workers maintain their existing benefits and keep adding to what they’re already entitled to.

Unifor is Canada’s largest and most influential union. Joining us gives workers the legal right to bargain collectively with their employer, creating a climate of greater respect, dignity and the ability to make material gains to improve your standard of living.

We organize. We win.

GardaWorld workers will be supported by a strong negotiating team that helps them win better job security, competitive wages and the benefits of economic progress.

Next Steps

If you have not already done so, you can sign your electronic union card below. Signing a union card is an important step towards showing support for Unifor in your workplace. All union cards are confidential. From any touchscreen device, you will be able to sign your card and pay a $5 dollar fee. The fee is a requirement of the federal labour board, not of Unifor. Once completed, you’ll be asked to verify your email address, this step will finalize your union card.

Sign a union card here

If you have signed, you can encourage you co-workers to sign by sharing the link below.

To help a co-worker sign a union card, share this link: https://join.unifor.org/gardacard

We look forward to connecting soon.

Bruce Fafard //Unifor National Representative // [email protected] // 587-341-0945

Justin Gniposky // Unifor National Representative // [email protected] // 416-275-6389