Unionbusting and safety concerns continue at Rockcliffe Flying Club as CIRB delays certification

Ottawa, ON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Workers at the Rockcliffe Flying Club filed to join CUPE in December 2025 after raising concerns about workplace culture and aircraft safety. Instead of respecting those concerns and letting workers exercise their right to join a union, the employer has responded with delay, pressure, and retaliation.

What should have been the straightforward certification process is still not finished, nearly four months later. In that time, workers say the employer has used the delay to target union supporters and employees who spoke up about safety.

Workers had significant concerns in three broad areas: aircraft serviceability, safety culture, and compliance with procedures and manuals.

Rather than working openly with staff to address those concerns, the employer chose to retaliate against the workers who raised the concerns. The organization shut down operations in February and laid off flight instructors, ground crew, and other essential staff in February of this year citing safety concerns as the reason.

In March, workers received recall letters from Rockcliffe Flying club. claiming that the safety issues had been addressed, But the employer provided no details, despite recent inspections by Transport Canada. Many workers accepted the recall while also asking for proof that the safety concerns had actually been fixed before returning to work. That is not an unreasonable request. It is a basic workplace safety principle.

Workers have a right to know that the equipment they are being asked to use is safe. They have a right to raise health and safety concerns without being punished. And they have a right to join a union without fear of reprisals.

Instead, many of the workers who responded to the recall were told that their acceptance somehow counted as a refusal because management objected to the conditions they raised. Those “conditions” were simply requests for evidence that the reported safety problems had been resolved. Management has also brought in a new Chief Flight Instructor and replacement staff less than a week after rejecting the worker’s acceptance letters.

No worker should be punished for asking whether a workplace is safe. No employer should be allowed to use fear and uncertainty to weaken workers’ solidarity. And no certification process should be allowed to drag on in a way that gives an employer more time to interfere with workers’ rights.

Workers had already shown their support for joining CUPE through signed union cards. The longer this process is delayed, the easier it becomes for the employer to change the workforce and interfere with workers’ choice.

Meanwhile, the CIRB continues to debate whether the union can be certified using the card check method prescribed by the law. This delay has allowed this employer room to employ these underhanded tactics to try and undermine the workers’ rights to form a union, and their rights to refuse unsafe work.

Affected workers’ identities have been withheld to protect them from reprisals.

Workers continue to stay strong and united despite employer’s unfair and aggressive measures to delay workers from gaining their legally protected union rights.

js/COPE491