By Ken Pole | August 30, 2019 Estimated reading time 2 minutes, 1 seconds.
Core airline personnel and air traffic controllers are evidently getting an exemption to proposed Canada Labour Code regulatory changes which will affect rest and scheduling – at least until Employment and Social Development Canada (EDSC) finalizes planned revisions sometime next year.
This was disclosed to Skies by an informed source, who said ESDC is developing “an interpretation” of a policy document which lists the exemptions. They apply to flight deck and cabin personnel as maintenance staff and ramp attendants at airports with 24-7 operations.
Asked to confirm the information, ESDC said the exemption will apply to “targeted groups of employees” not only in airline operations but also in several other sectors, including telecommunications and marine, rail and trucking.
“At this time, we’re unable to confirm which employee groups will be included,” ESDC told Skies in an Aug. 30 email, just two days before the regulatory changes come into effect on an interim basis.
“The interim approach will be applied until the government puts in place regulations regarding modification or exemptions to some hours of work provisions, targeted for 2020,” ESDC added. “The government will continue to work with workplace parties on the regulations.”
Until then, the exempt workers will be entitled to 96 hours written notice of work schedules, 24 hours written notice of shift changes, eight hour rest periods between shifts, and a 30 minute break within every five consecutive hours of work.
