A Sunwing Airlines pilot fired for sending an email to a Black supervisor that “played on racist and discriminatory tropes directed at Black people” has failed to win his job back.
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) grieved Darren Acri’s February 2025 termination from Sunwing, which has been acquired by WestJet.
“Can I get a large bucket of fried chicken, with slices of watermelon and a six pack of non-alcoholic Bud light beer for me and my friends?” was Acri’s emailed food order during an April 8, 2024, layover in Fredericton, N.B.
Michael Simmons, who was Sunwing’s director of line operations at the time, was copied on Acri’s email, sent just after 1 a.m.
“Sunwing argues that this email was directed at a wide group of Sunwing employees and managers including Mr. Simmons who is the grievor’s direct supervisor and a Black man,” Jesse Nyman, a labour arbitrator, wrote in his recent decision.
“Sunwing argues that racist and discriminatory behaviour is serious misconduct.”
Acri was removed from service with pay pending an investigation.
The pilot wrote to the airline’s human resources department in May 2024, saying he “was unaware of the ‘stigma’ associated with the meal request,” and that it wasn’t his intention to insult or harass Simmons.
The pilot apologized for what he termed a misunderstanding.
“My interests that night were to access the local amenities and restaurants as detailed in our collective agreement. Nothing more, nothing less. The local grocery for beer and watermelon and Mary Brown’s for a bucket of chicken.”
After Sunwing received an investigation report on the matter in January 2025, Acri was “placed on a suspension pending discharge,” said the arbitrator’s May 21 decision.
“The investigation revealed that there was no dispute as to the events of the night or the email and the sole factual issue in dispute was whether (flight crew member) Acri had made this food request because this is what he truly wanted to eat,” Nyman said.
The arbitrator concluded “that on a balance of probabilities it was not a legitimate food order.”
The food order in question came five hours after the pilot “first reached out seeking approval for transportation to a restaurant,” Nyman said.
After transportation was denied, Acri took two hours to choose his food delivery preference, said the arbitrator.
“It is difficult to accept that after complaining about a lack of transportation to restaurants for two-and-a-half hours, the grievor decided five hours later that all he really wanted was to pop into Mary Browns and a grocery store.”
According to the arbitrator, “the only reasonable conclusion on the evidence before me is that on a balance of probabilities the grievor was not making a legitimate food order when he sent his email.”
The “only other explanation offered,” Nyman said, “is that the grievor intentionally sent an email that played on racist tropes and I find that is what the grievor did.”
The airline dismissed Acri on Feb. 5, 2025.
“Sunwing argues that the racists tropes in the email are an assault on Mr. Simmons in front of a large group of colleagues and that this requires the strongest denunciation. While the grievor has apologized for ‘an unfortunate misunderstanding’ and an ‘unfortunate turn of events,’ Sunwing argues that implicit in the grievor’s apologies is his claim that he was making a legitimate food order and he only accidentally played on racist tropes. Sunwing argues there is nothing sincere in these apologies and that they are self-serving at best.”
Before he sent the fried chicken email, the pilot was frustrated at being assigned a hotel that wasn’t in downtown Fredericton and not having access to transportation so he could check out the food options available.
His union acknowledged that Acri’s email that night “contains a racist statement and that some discipline is warranted,” but that the pilot “has genuinely apologized for both the order and its impact.”
His union argued “that the absence of an intention to demean or insult means that the penalty must be less than discharge.”
The arbitrator didn’t agree.
“It is a well-worn and insidious trope that Black people eat fried chicken and watermelon,” Nyman said.
“It plays on racist stereotypes that project Black people as simplistic and inferior. Having reached the conclusion that this is what the grievor was referring to in his email, it does not take a great deal of imagination to understand what the grievor intended by his email. He was upset. He clearly felt that he was not being treated as he was entitled or deserved. The point the grievor is making in his email is that he feels he is being treated less than he deserves and therefore should get a food order that is commensurate with the circumstances he finds himself in. At its core is the implication that Black people are less deserving. It is grotesque. It is dishonest to call the email anything less than what it is.”
ALPA argued that Acri could be reinstated after completing sensitivity training.
But Nyman said Sunwing “had just cause to terminate” Acri. “The grievance is therefore dismissed.”
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