October 22, 2025
Participants for AMFA
Wilber "Will" Abbott– Region II Director
Collin Ayotte – Airline Representative
Lucas Middlebrook – Legal Counsel
Peter Manikowski – Economist
Participants for Calm Air
Randi McCallum – Vice President of HR & Payroll
Tim Kroeker – Vice President of Maintenance / PRM
Darcy Mawby – Director of Maintenance
Britney Bella – HRIS/Payroll Manager
The AMFA-Calm Air Negotiating Committee (“the Committee”) is providing this update to the membership at Calm Air International LP (“Calm Air” or the “Company”). This is the only official source of negotiating communications by the Committee.
Session Summary
The Parties met in Winnipeg on October 14-16 and half-day on the 17th for a collective bargaining session. The Parties exchanged economic term sheet proposals and engaged in discussion regarding economic items while also aligning on certain concepts. In addition, the Parties spent considerable time in productive off-the-record discussions with an aim to accelerate the pace of bargaining. We appreciated the Company’s willingness to explore off-the-record solutions. However, there is more work to be done before the Parties can reach a full TA that is worthy of your consideration. We expect Calm Air, as it prepares for the next session, to genuinely acknowledge the importance of your hard work to the success of the Company and be prepared to recognize your value with a compensation package that reflects the rapidly increasing AME and related industry. As explained below, the Company must move upward with the industry or risk continued attrition of our skilled labor to companies providing superior compensation.
We plan to keep in contact with the Company during the coming days to confirm whether any additional articles can be tentatively agreed (TA’d) between sessions.
Please continue reading for a detailed breakdown of last week’s negotiation session..
Day One
The Company owed responses on the Economic Term Sheet to begin this session. Before the Company passed its term sheet, the Parties had “off the record” discussions to identify the path forward in these negotiations. The Company then passed its Economic Term Sheet with a new concept, which was to place AME endorsements (ACAs) into the base wage. This would increase the base wage that would be used to calculate overtime and pension computations. The Company made higher offers on some economic items, including bump-up Lead pay and wage increases in the out years of a contract. The Company’s Economic Term Sheet proposal, however, left the Parties apart on vacation accruals, per diem, sick leave, Aircraft Rescue Mission pay, and other items. The Company also continued to propose deferral of discussion on retroactive pay from May 2025 through date of ratification of a successor agreement. Your Committee appreciated the Company’s change in approach with respect to the computation of the base rate, while recognizing there was still more work to be done on economics. AMFA utilized the remainder of Day 1 to thoughtfully prepare a counterproposal.
Day Two
On the morning of Day 2, AMFA presented an analysis on attrition of AMEs from Calm Air in the last two years. We detailed the experience lost, particularly since WestJet opened its maintenance base in Winnipeg and provided the Company with detailed information on certain job postings (i.e., offers) in Winnipeg. We remain very concerned about this issue and presented our proposal in that light.
AMFA’s Economic Term Sheet counterproposal continued to push for higher vacation accruals, sick leave accruals, better pension contributions, and higher wages. Our proposal on per diem remained tied to that of the Calm-ALPA pilots computed on a daily rate. We view this rate as one that is completely appropriate for the travel you do for work on behalf of Calm Air. Our proposal also sought to solidify the base rate and overtime computations.
Days Three and Four
On Day 3, the Company presented another Economic Term Sheet counterproposal that brought the Parties closer to alignment on how the base rate, overtime, and pension would be calculated. The Company also slightly raised its offer on per diem and other economic items in its Economic Term Sheet counter.
That same day, AMFA countered with its own Economic Term Sheet proposal seeking, among other issues, to clarify how M1s would be compensated.
Later that afternoon, the Parties met off-the-record to discuss how to proceed and to potentially accelerate the negotiation process. The Parties discussed ideas that would allow each side to discuss the issues in a more streamlined fashion.
Over the course of Day 3, AMFA reemphasized what was happening with wages in the Canada AME and related maintenance employee market. We particularly stressed what is occurring at Jazz, JTS, and our sibling company, AMS. We, as your Committee, are paying close attention to all relevant comparators and informed the Company that it could not ignore this market if it shared our interest in securing a TA that is worthy of your ratification vote. Slowing attrition at Calm and aligning compensation with the increasing AME market were our main themes – as we know this will be important for all of you when considering your ratification vote on any forthcoming TA referendum.
The Parties then spent the rest of Day 3 and the entire half-day of Day 4 in productive off-the-record discussions.
The next bargaining session is scheduled for November 10-13 (location TBD). We would like to thank all the observers that attended this session. Your support is greatly appreciated. We also thank the members that have reached out to express gratitude to AMFA for bringing your voice to the table and informing the Company of the issues important to you. Once a location is finalized for the November session, we will advise accordingly so that any member wishing to attend that session as an observer may contact Collin Ayotte to make the necessary arrangements.
Remember -- stay engaged, remain informed, and continue to support the Negotiating Committee. We, as a Committee, are honored to have received your many messages of continued support. We are energized by your solidarity at this moment; and remember, it is our collective solidarity that will produce a CBA that your hard work has earned.
Fraternally,
Your AMFA-Calm Negotiating Committee
