No. Pascan Aviation pilots submitted ALPA membership cards to request that the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) hold a representation election. Due in part to the high number of cards filed, the CIRB reviewed the cards and simply certified ALPA as our representative without an election.

ALPA is a unique labour union in that it is pilot-run and staff-supported. Your union representatives will be fellow line pilots. They know the issues and are invested in an equitable solution for all. The pilot representatives are fully supported by an aviation- and labour-focused staff in ALPA’s offices in Canada and the United States.

Now that ALPA has been appointed as our representative, all Pascan pilots will remain on the current contract, and ALPA will administer and enforce the contract. ALPA will take over any ongoing negotiations. Remember, ALPA is a pilots’ union run by pilots and supported by long-term dedicated staff who solely focus on pilot issues.  As such, we will quickly select a Negotiating Committee consisting of Pascan pilots who will be assisted by ALPA’s Labour Relations lawyers and advisors (who are professional negotiators), retirement and insurance specialists, economic and financial analysis professionals, and communications professionals.

Union dues represent the fee paid by members to support ALPA's activities on your behalf. ALPA dues are 1.85% of your gross income and begin 90 days after joining the Association. Approximately 50–75 percent of your dues will remain within our local pilot group, depending on size, to be used as we wish (e.g., Pilot Unity Building events, family events, grievance meetings, items branded with a Pascan or ALPA logo, etc.). The remainder goes to your representatives’ support system: the ALPA staff in Canada and the United States, which includes aeromedical, legal, and representation resources as well as aviation safety and security experts. In addition, ALPA provides a life insurance policy to all Canadian members that fly for participating airlines. Additional life insurance and other optional programs such as group auto/home insurance and critical illness insurance are available as well. ALPA also has a strong network of peer support representatives, and the Pilots for Pilots program aids members and their dependents who fall victim to natural disasters.

Please review the ALPA Constitution & By-Laws for income exempt from dues. The vast majority of ALPA workers are in fact unpaid volunteer pilots, like you, who serve as elected board members and committee representatives. Moreover, dues are also tax deductible. 

Read more ondues from the Canada Revenue Agency

ALPA is a democratic union organized with pilot members driving decision-making from the bottom up. It is a pilot-run, staff-supported union.

Here's how it works:

• Local councils are established at most pilot bases, and each local council elects a representative for each status (captain or first officer) or seniority block. As a single-council MEC, the elected representatives from the local council will also make up the Master Executive Council (MEC) for the Pascan pilots.
• Each MEC is given primary responsibility for determining its relationship with management, making decisions about its contract and bargaining goals, and given discretion over dispute resolution and contract administration. ALPA assigns professional staff to work with and advise local leaders, but elected pilot representatives make final decisions.
• At a national level, ALPA is governed by three groups: the Board of Directors, the Executive Board, and the Executive Council.
• The Board of Directors (BOD) is the largest group, and it has the greatest authority. It consists of the local council representatives from every ALPA local council—approximately 225 pilots. It meets at least every two years and is responsible for setting the Association's course, modifying (when necessary) the governing documents, and electing national officers.
• The Executive Board is the second largest group, and its authority is second to the Board of Directors. The Executive Board is made up of the MEC chairs from each airline—so it presently has 43 members. It meets at least twice a year to make sure that the BOD's decisions are being implemented and to consider certain significant decisions reserved to the Executive Board in the ALPA Constitution & By-Laws and other policies.
• The smallest group, the Executive Council, is charged with overseeing the administration of the union, which includes such things as establishing and overseeing the budget and making day-to-day interpretations of ALPA’s governing rules. In addition, the Executive Council makes recommendations to the Executive Board or Board of Directors for final decision. The Executive Council currently has 16 members: four national officers, the ALPA Canada president, and 11 executive vice presidents. elected from “election groups” described in the ALPA Constitution & By-Laws.
• The process for selecting executive vice presidents has changed many times over the years as the membership and needs of the Association have changed. Under the current structure, each airline with more than 4,000 members or $10 million in annual dues elects one executive vice president, including Air Canada. Smaller U.S. airlines are placed in one of three election groups, and each of those groups chooses a single executive vice president. Canadian airlines choose a single executive vice president.
• In the portion of the ALPA Constitution that describes executive vice president elections, the letters A, B, and C are used to designate the different groups from which executive vice presidents are chosen—A for the largest carriers, B for the other U.S. carriers, and C for the Canadian carriers. The letters are just that—letters. They’re not grades or designations of importance.

As members of ALPA, Pascan pilots will have democratic control over their activities and will decide on issues that are important to them. When certified by the CIRB, internal elections among the pilot group who are members of the union will be held to elect individuals both to serve on the Master Executive Council (MEC) and to represent you on a Negotiating Committee to negotiate a collective agreement. The Negotiating Committee, assisted by experienced professional negotiators and lawyers from ALPA, will negotiate your collective agreement based on your representatives' direction and with assistance and input from you, the Pascan pilot members. This tentative collective agreement will be brought back to the members for ratification before it can be finalized.

Now that ALPA is certified, interim pilot leaders have been appointed to begin work on behalf of our pilot group. Most important are:

1. The steps to put democratically elected permanent representatives in place, and
2. Preparation for work to address key concerns in negotiations.

Shortly after CIRB certification, the ALPA Executive Council created a local council for our pilot group and appointed interim representatives. These representatives will also serve as the initial Pascan Aviation ALPA Master Executive Council (MEC) as a single-council MEC.

The MEC will establish committees in its first few months of operation. These committees are likely to include Safety, Retirement and Insurance, Contract Study, and others. ALPA professional experts in each area will meet with the committees soon after their formation to outline resources available, provide training, and outline the committee's goals and work schedule.

The interim local council representatives will get things started, but as soon as a strong majority of pilots have become members, an election process will begin so that we can choose our own representatives. That process will start with a nominating meeting. It's critical for all pilots to submit membership applications as soon as possible after certification to attend local council meetings and vote to elect representatives.

Under Section 37 of the CLC, a trade union, including all of its union representatives, is bound to provide a duty of fair representation to all employees it represents. Unlike what we currently have, oversight of this duty is provided by the CIRB that hears cases involving the duty of fair representation.

Your ALPA representatives will have the ability to legally and collectively represent the Pascan pilot group as a whole. In addition to the protections that association members have contained within the Canada Labor Code, your representatives are also bound to the Code of Ethics and Constitution and By-Laws. As per the ALPA Constitution, representatives can be recalled by the membership.

Issued to all ALPA members, the “orange card” contains contact information for the ALPA Worldwide Accident/Incident Hotline, which connects members to immediate support and professional assistance. This critical service is one of the fundamental reasons for ALPA's existence. If you are involved in an aircraft accident or incident, you are entitled to and will receive extensive professional legal and technical representation. The hotline is staffed 24/7/365 by knowledgeable experts who have extensive experience in aircraft operations. They will provide you with guidance on how to proceed and, if necessary, immediately dispatch a team of legal and technical experts to assist you. An ALPA accident investigator will be assigned to the TSB investigation on your behalf. Companies often say they will look after you in the event of an accident, but the end result can be quite different. ALPA is completely committed to supporting your needs, and the protection it offers continues—even in the unfortunate event of your death, protection will be extended to your estate. 

No one can make you join. However, you will be required to pay dues in accordance with the Rand Formula, which was established in 1946 by Justice Ivan Rand of the Supreme Court of Canada. If you choose this option, you will not receive many of the benefits that members receive. In addition, a nonmember will not be able to vote on matters affecting the union. In Canadian labour law, union dues are mandatory regardless of the worker's union status to ensure that no employee will opt out of the union simply to avoid dues, but still reap the benefits of the union's accomplishments, such as ensuring higher wages, better job security, or other benefits and protections.

Under current law the affected companies are under no legal obligation to discuss the impact of a merger/acquisition with you or any of the other pilots in your airline prior to any decisions being made. Your seniority may not be protected and you could end up being severely disadvantaged. However, if you are represented by a certified union, your company will have an obligation to confer with your union. This obligation is often included in the collective agreement between your union and the employer. Now imagine that your company were taken over by another larger airline. How do you think things would work out if the new company decided that certain positions were now considered redundant and wanted to trim the workforce to gain cost-savings? Furthermore, what would happen if the other company's employees were unionized and your company’s were not? Obviously, the pilots with union representation would have a voice to be heard during the merger process in both a prospective and a reactive sense. This would represent a significant advantage over employees with no union representation.

ALPA would not take sides. Rather, ALPA’s Fragmentation and Merger Policy would be followed. Therein, the affected MECs from the companies in question would enter a bargaining/mediation-arbitration process to resolve any issues concerning the integration of the seniority lists. Essentially, ALPA’s role would be to provide the procedural mechanism/vehicle for this process.

How ALPA spends its funds is determined by the members and outlined in its Constitution and By-Laws. When you become a member of ALPA, you become a decision maker as to how ALPA spends its money. Members' dues are not used for political lobbying in Canada or the United States.