HALIFAX -- Eastern Provincial Airways' 92 striking pilots are willing to return to work under terms of their old contract but the company, which started replacing them, won't take them back.
Capt. Keith Lacey, head of the EPA local of the Canadian Air Line Pilots Assocation, told a news conference Tuesday the offer was unconditional. 'We were hoping for some increase in pay but there never was any demand by us for higher salaries.'
'Why did we negotiate all these months?' said EPA marketing vice-president Merv Russell. 'Why did he (Lacey) take 92 people out on strike?'
The pilots, without a contract since last September, walked out Jan. 20 in a dispute that centered on the airline's demand they fly an extra five hours every month, a move CALPA said would compromise safety.
In a letter last month, EPA warned the union it would start hiring new pilots beginning March 1. Eastern Provincial hopes to restore full services before April 24, when an amalgamation deal with CP Air takes effect.
The five-week strike forced the regional carrier to cut back operations by 60 percent.
Russell, who started hiring new pilots Tuesday, dismissed CALPA's offer.
'Why? We've just got ourselves eight excellent pilots today, pilots who won't play silly games,' Russell said. He said hiring would continue until all 92 pilots still on strike were replaced.
Before hiring the eight new pilots, now taking flight simulator training at Halifax, the airline was relying on three management pilots, another seven who have broken ranks with CALPA, and a dozen pilots contracted from a Timmins, Ont., company.
In addition to making their return-to-work offer, the pilots gave reporters a copy of a Telex the union received Feb. 25 from Jean Claude Hebert, a member of EPA's board of directors.
'At last somebody is prepared to make a stand against you over-dressed, over-sexed, over-paid bus drivers,' Hebert's message said. 'CALPA has been blackmailing all airlines long enough with your irresponsible demands and for salaries that are completely exorbitant when it is getting easier and easier to fly an airplane, not more difficult.'
Lacey said the Telex was a typical example of the poor labor relations which existed between the pilots and the company.
