March 2, 2023

Dear Air Canada AMEs and Skilled Trade Groups:

I am pleased to take this opportunity to introduce myself to your skilled, professional trade groups at Air Canada. My name is Bret Oestreich, National President of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA). I have been in the aviation industry for 32 years, and I am an FAA-licensed Airframe and Powerplant Aircraft Maintenance Technician (AMT).

I want to personally thank you for all that you do and recognize your impact on our profession. Your dedication to prioritizing safety every time you touch an aircraft makes you critical to the success of any aviation maintenance operation. The lives of our crew members and the flying public depend on your knowledge, skill, and integrity, as reflected by AMFA’s motto: “safety in the air begins with quality maintenance on the ground.” While I respect the work that you perform day to day, it is my goal to demand increased recognition, from your employer and the general public, for your critical contribution to aviation safety.

As AMFA’s footprint is rapidly expanding in Canada, it is important that you hear directly from me to get a sense of what AMFA is truly about. One of the primary reasons I accepted the position of National President was that AMFA is the only union that constitutionally limits itself to representing aircraft maintenance technicians/engineers and related skilled trade groups, thus avoiding conflicts of interest with other larger non-aviation workgroups. I am proud to lead our trade-specific union and plant the AMFA flag in Canada starting with L3 Harris MAS in 2022, and I am eager to do the same at WestJet Airlines and Air Canada in the coming months at Air Canada with your help and support in your grassroots movement.

Other labor organizations combine skilled trades in a single bargaining unit that includes a majority of unskilled workers. This results in an industrial union with an ignoramus system of governance suppressing the wages, benefits, and collective voice of trade-specific workgroups. Since their inception in Canada, industrial unions have repeatedly failed to deliver on their promises to AMEs and skilled trade groups. This failure is not an isolated event, but rather a pattern that has unfolded over Canadian labor history. The core problem, demonstrated time and time again, is that unfocused industrial unions put their own power and financial interests ahead of the workers’ interests they are obligated to protect.

AMFA follows a different path. Our objectives are to raise the standards and increase the recognition of AMEs and skilled trade workgroups, and the AMFA Constitution is the catalyst for our members to control their destiny via the direct election of all local and national officers and contract ratification votes. Our members’ voices are heard.

AMFA believes you have the right to choose, and you have made the right choice in seeking to be represented by an independent, trade-specific union. One Craft, One Union! Your Air Canada group will contunue as pioneers, promoting a single-trade union dedicated to aviation safety and protecting your livelihood.

We expect some resistance from management and your current union representation, but I ask that you actively engage in our movement across Canada so that AMEs and skilled trade groups will finally be given the international respect, recognition, and support that they deserve.

Sincerely,

Bret Oestreich
National President