Support Fair Scheduling for Bilingual (French) Agents at Air Canada – End Discriminatory Bidding Practices

In all fairness AC needs to hire more bilingual agents.

We, as BL agents need to see an advantage/ fairness of being able to speak THE SECOND OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IN CANADA. Instead of that: AGENTS WITH LESS SENIORITY than me can hold a line with a better start time ( better sleep = better PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH) and on top of that, that same person can also get Saturday and Sunday off Me on the contrary ( to get a chance to have a partial weekend off ) I had to bid a 3am start (and not even on a 4x3 rotation ) I had to do it on a 5x2 rotation How is that possible ? Agents WITH LESS SENIORITY than me can easily get RO ( whole shift or a partial ) and WE don’t. Agents WITH LESS SENIORITY than me can shift trade ( the whole shift or a partial covered ) with EVERY SINGLE AGENT without a problem (sometimes they just put it in the pool and within less than 5 min the shift is gone ) meanwhile WE BL agents are always doing crazy things in order to get even an hour covered. Sometimes BL people have to offer to work 2 shifts in order to get 1 covered, why ? Because we are desperate ! We can only trade with a specific small amount of people and how many of them have for example the weekend off ? What happens when we call on sick, FR or we are on vacation ? WE ARE NOT COVERED BY A BL AGENT. Instead of that, a NON BL AGENT WILL BE IN OUR POST and the question is ¿ in that case IT’S RIGHT ? ( ¿ no operational needs ?) And I can go on and on and on … What is the company doing to attract more BL AGENTS ? Posting an offer that stays up for 3 days ? It sounds like a joke right ?! What is the company doing to keep the ones that are already working in the sales department ? ( people are leaving the company, going to work for GTAA because the salary is wayyy better and THEY EVEN GET A BONUS JUST BECAUSE THEY SPEAK FRENCH. Agents are also moving to in-flight, reservations, a government office or even going in the construction market and there is a reason … and we all know which one it is … BECAUSE THERE IS NO BENEFITS/ F

As a BL agent, I'm offering my skills and getting punished for it.

Equality for BL agents.

After 25 years with the company I’m expecting to be forced this bid. After having decent shifts for the past few bids, there is absolutely nothing that works for work life balance. Being restricted with shift trading after taking the shift that you don’t want is going to put care and class on another level.

I agree with everything here. I. don't want to be continually penalized for being BL. I want to be treated fairly and have access to all lines available once it's my turn to bid. I want to be able to bid any line available so that i can choose something that makes the most sense for my work-life balance. Then after i've selected a line, stamp a BL on it if you need to. I don't mind being forced BL but i do resent being forced to give up my seniority at bid-time. There was also a wonderful idea put forth about having BL Agents in strategic areas as almost floaters. Having BL agents in strategic areas like gate support and lobby/kiosk) that you can help customers in the lobby area and if someone needs translation help just call us on the radio - we could come quickly. Just having BLs in strategic locations throughout YYZ would help. Or make most lines and certainly the best lines BL-Eligible lines. If it's a numbers game - then plug it in. It is demoralizing that after this many years the BL lines continue to get worse. We deserve better.

As the years go by, instead of having more options at bid time, its become the opposite.....unfair and unacceptable!!!

More lobby lines

BL agents are totally discriminated upon. We are treated unfairly. We do not carry the same Rights as non-language agents. Restricted trading. Not allowed to be awarded RO ever!!!

3:30 and 04:00 start time was adversely affecting my health so much that I’m now on a leave

Operation was working perfect without that many BL lines. The company should focus on hiring more French agents and force less people that after couple of bids everyone gets the chance to bid equaly with non BL agents

Better flexibility for bl agents and just overall more respect for senior agents

I disagree with those who say we shouldn't be given special treatment. We should be treated special. The company would be heavily fined if they didn't have french agents. This is not the case for every other language. Within other industries and companies we'd be given a premium pay for simply speaking french. Air Canada is not attracting new employees because these people know they can get double minimum wage and better shift elsewhere. We are not treated equally to our fellow nonBL agent...we are subordinates

Transferred from CES department due to management neglecting to provide adequate schedules for part time employees and lack of hiring new BL agents.

Being forced I'm ok with. I want to use my French. Being forced to give up my seniority at bid time is not exceptable. At time of bid there many shifts I'd prefer out of the 20+ pages BUT I'm only to choose from 3 pages. An agent recently hired will have a better shift choice then myself.

Currently working in Réservation ( transferred during COVID era) if I put my transfer back to the Airport I would be forced on BL line with my Seniority ( Was hired in 2000). I totally support this cause .

No bl cct ? Yet multiple other cct language lines ?

Equality for Bl agents

More 4x3 FT evening with partial weekend Be able to shift trade with non BL Hire more BL