Pilots with Canada’s Porter Airlines have officially joined the Air Line Pilots Association.
In a statement, ALPA said it recently received certification from the Canada Industrial Relations Board to represent over 800 pilots at Porter. The Porter pilots are the labor union’s 43rd pilot group, and the 22nd within Canada.
“We are proud to welcome the pilots of Porter Airlines to ALPA and expand the strength and power of our international union,” said ALPA President Jason Ambrosi. “We are always stronger together, and bringing our brothers and sisters at Porter into ALPA will not only improve their ability to negotiate good contracts but also ensure that safety and workers’ rights remain front and center.”
Porter pilots filed membership cards with ALPA last month, triggering a review by the CIRB. The process entailed correspondence with Porter and interviews with individual pilots about their support for unionization.
With the addition of the Porter group, ALPA now represents 95% of Canada’s professional pilots, according to Tim Perry, the union’s Canada president.
ALPA represents a total of 79,000 pilots across Canada and the U.S.
Porter, which has its headquarters in Toronto, is Canada’s fourth-largest airline and was formerly the country’s largest non-unionized carrier. The airline has grown significantly over the past several years, adding new routes and expanding operations at Toronto Pearson International Airport and Ottawa/Macdonald–Cartier International Airport. It now flies to 45 destinations in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and the Caribbean.
