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A Day of Protest in Ottawa:
      ‘Walk for Aviation Safety’

April 2003 IBEW Journal

Local 2228 sponsored a labour-wide "Walk for Aviation Safety" rally March 14, 2003, in Ottowa, the nation’s capital.

The rally was called as a day of protest in support of Nav Canada employees and highlighted air travel safety concerns. Joining the rally were members from eight unions representing 4,800 Nav Canada employees, all of whom are working without a contract. Local 2228 sponsored numerous Nav Canada protest rallies across Canada throughout the past year.

On March 14, marchers convened at Confederation Park in Ottawa, about a block from the Nav Canada corporate headquarters. Participants filed past the headquarters and on to Parliament Hill, bearing picket signs declaring their message and handing out brochures along the way. From there marchers proceeded to 240 Sparks Street, which houses the offices of the Canadian Industrial Relations Board. Then it was on to a visit to Transport Canada’s Tower C.

"We are getting our message out to the community that we are concerned about aviation safety in Canada," said rally organizer Dan Weber, a Local 2228 Nav Canada electronic technologist and local union regional representative for Ottawa Region 3.

"We are getting the word out to a wider audience that it’s not good for our country to have an understaffed, overworked, under-compensated and demoralized work force in a vital function such as Canada’s

air navigation system," Weber said. "We are generating media interest and rallying support from our Local 2228 government brothers and sisters as well, not just Nav Canada members."

At Ottawa International Airport on the same day, Local 2228 Nav Canada technologists handed out brochures detailing Nav Canada’s treatment of workers and the union’s air travel safety concerns.

IBEW members in Canada can help support their Nav Canada brothers and sisters by contacting their federal member of Parliament to voice concerns on this issue. Please use this link to locate your MP: http://canada.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html.