yycflyguy
Tongue-in-cheek aside, this whole ACPA age discrimination thing presents a fairly serious conflict with not only the Charter but the CARs, as there is no mandatory retirement age for Canadian pilots. Aren't Air Canada pilots Canadian pilots?
Seriously though, I think ACPA
should be hooped over this issue. In a country that's
suppose to protect its citizens from age discrimination it should mean that any union that writes into its' collective agreement a clause that tries to circumvent the legitimate laws of the land, should not be allowed to do so.
I'd say the courts got it right and ACPA should remove this arbitrary age discrimination clause from their agreement. Personal opinion.
I'd just add that this kind of B.S. is merely another lump of sh*t on the pile of sh*t that is the present state of the so-called piloting profession. ACPA, as a professional pilot group should know that. Should understand that. Should, without court battles, be able to recognize it for what it is. However, as we all know, it's about command and money. How shamefully selfish. I don't agree with it, but I understand it.
And not to single out the pilot group, but Air Canada management should have also refused to sign an agreement with any of its unions trying to pass off any age limitation in their collective agreements.
Let's see what the 49 year old ACPA members say in about 10 years.
JETZ violated the Can-US agreement. This isn't likely to be settled any time soon.
To another point, the only thing standing between a real and/or an imagined pilot shortage is the unpredictability of the world wide economy and its impact on pilot numbers. The industry is on borrowed time and could see a major calamity (as in airline failures, not just LCC failures).
One thing's for sure, we know how many pilots there are in the world. We know how many will retire AND when (to the day, thanks to union contracts). We also know the numbers aren't pretty and those numbers clearly indicate the airline industry faces a serious shortage. If the industry wasn't concerned, we wouldn't have the now famous
MPL fast track to the flight deck. The only thing keeping the industry from falling off the edge is airline economic failures. As the various companies fail, experienced pilots land on the open market. Once that surplus is dried up. WE'RE F***ED!!
That TOO isn't news, it is, however, the reality.
Keep smilin' (especially those of you who are 35 or younger)
Willie
