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January 29, 2025
Porter pilots,
Last year, members of the Porter Pilots For Change ALPA Organizing Committee (Porter OC) set out to explore the possibility of certifying our pilot group with the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA). We spent time with our pilots as our pilot group grew, discussing the issues we face and your interest in joining ALPA. Through hundreds of one on one conversations over the past several months, our organizing committee has determined that the strong majority of Porter pilots are in favour of joining ALPA, and becoming part of the same organization to which the overwhelming majority of our peers in Canada belong.
This demonstration of support from the Porter Pilots indicates we are ready to take the next step in securing ALPA representation. Starting January 29th, 2025, you will be able to vote in favour of joining ALPA by signing a card and submitting a $5 initiation fee. This $5 fee is required by law under the Canada Labour Code to prove that you are making this decision of your own free will. The cards are kept confidential and are never shared with anyone from Porter management.
When a strong majority of Porter pilots have submitted their cards, ALPA will petition the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) for certification via card count. We want to make the process of signing a card and submitting your $5 as convenient as possible. No card collection or submission may happen on company property during working hours, but you may submit or receive a card while you are on a break or before or after your pairings.
Options for Submitting a Card Include:
- Print a card--Visit poe.alpa.org to print the card. Complete and sign the card (don’t sign the last line for the ALPA representative or the receipt portion on the right side) and mail it with your $5 (cash or check, no coins, please) to:
Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA)
360 Albert Street, Suite 1510
Ottawa, ON K1R 7X7
ALPA will mail you your receipt and confirm we received your card and $5 with a phone call to the phone number you list on the card.
- Contact an OC Member--Each Porter ALPA Organizing Committee member listed below will have a supply of cards with them, so feel free to contact them for a card.
- Visit a Collection Site--ALPA representatives and organizing committee members will be throughout Canada on different days and times to collect cards.
For the most updated locations where Porter Pilots may sign an ALPA certification card, please visit poe.alpa.org
We believe it’s time for our pilot group to establish a union, and join over 95 percent of Canada's professional pilots represented in ALPA’s membership numbers -- over 79,000 pilots at 42 airlines (including 20 in Canada). Like other ALPA pilots, our goal is to be on equal lawful footing as management, sit at the bargaining table and negotiate our first collective agreement, which is safe under the Canada Labour Code from unilateral changes and arbitrary actions by management. It’s time to secure professional representation under the Canada Labour Code and ensure our collective futures are secure.
Porter pilots have come together in unity and in great numbers to support this drive. We are thankful that you have trusted the Organizing Committee and participated thus far, and we ask that you continue to show your support by submitting your signed card as soon as possible.
Looking ahead, it is possible that Porter leadership -- with the counsel of a labour relations law firm -- will resist and challenge our efforts to organize. Efforts to undermine labour organization typically include introducing misinformation, fear, division, uncertainty, and doubt.
The anti-union playbook includes some familiar tactics, such as:
- asking the pilots for more time to fix problems,
- claiming that unions are just big businesses out to make money,
- creating internal divisions amongst pilots,
- promising that things will change for the worse if a union is formed,
- asserting that everything will be fine if we just trust them,
- attempting to drive a wedge between its pilots and ALPA with misinformation,
- claiming that unions put airlines out of business, and
- assuring the pilots that management really values their input on a host of different issues.
Additionally, there are legal boundaries that an employer and/or its agents may not cross during an organizing drive. Unlawful conduct includes, but is not limited to:
- linking unionization with job loss and base closures,
- promising pay increases, promotions, or other benefits for not joining a union,
- threatening job loss, pay reductions, and reductions in benefits and/or privileges if one seeks to join a union,
- using intimidating or coercive language, which may be designed to influence an employee concerning their decision to seek to join a union,
- threatening to eliminate or reduce particular work if you join a union,
- asking employees if they signed a card; and,
- making statements that the company will not deal with a union.
If you encounter any of this behavior, we ask that you please contact an Organizing Committee representative or ALPA immediately. These are fear mongering tactics that demonstrate a lack of respect for your right to unionize.
We are grateful for the engagement from all of you and for the respectful decorum of Porter Leadership thus far. Our intention is to maintain a positive working relationship with management. This card collection campaign is about our decision to build something for the benefit of all Porter pilots, and Porter Airlines. We’re eager to show our unity for representation to the rest of the piloting profession. It’s Time!
In unity,
The Porter ALPA Organizing Committee
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