Air Canada has stated that it remains available to continue negotiations with flight attendants while reducing its operations in the face of a possible labor stoppage.
The Montreal -based airline said it has reached an impasse with the union representing more than 10,500 flight attendants on compensation issues, despite eight months of negotiations. The company and the union sent notifications informing that a stoppage would start on Saturday.
“Abrupt airlines on airlines create chaos for travelers,” Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Human Resources head and public affairs at Air Canada, reporters in Toronto on Thursday. “We are still available for negotiations.”
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Outline commissioners holding posters with the words “unpaid work does not fly” and claiming that their remuneration is equivalent to “poverty wages” interrupted the press conference.
“Unfortunately, Air Canada has been absent from the negotiating table since Tuesday night,” said Wesley Lesesky, president of the Air Canada do Cupe component in a separate press conference, contradicting the company. “We, however, have never left the negotiation table. We are and we will remain ready to hear the company’s response to our last proposal.”
About 500 flights, including those of the main line and the Rouge Economic brand, will be canceled until Friday night, and all flights will be suspended after 1 am on Saturday morning, Toronto time, harming the travel plans of 130,000 passengers a day, the company said. Cargo operations will also be affected, but almost 300 Air Canada Express daily regional flights will not be impacted as they are operated by outsourced companies.
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Customers will be notified and will be entitled to full reimbursement, and Air Canada will offer alternatives with competing airlines when possible. United Airlines Holdings, Inc., which has a Codeshare agreement with the Canadian company, has published on its website an exemption so that some people who have reserved United Air Canada flights to change travel dates without change rate.
Air Canada has asked the Canadian government to forward the parties to binding arbitration. In other disputes last year, the government asked the Canadian industrial relations council to order workers’ return to their posts. The union, affiliated with Canadian Union of Public Employees (Cupe), asked Prime Minister Mark Carnery to “refrain from intervening in this constitutionally protected process so that workers can freely negotiate a collective agreement with their employer.”
Patty Hajdu, Canada’s Minister of Labor, said in a statement published on social networks that the union asked until Friday at noon to respond to Air Canada’s request. She agreed with the deadline, stating that “the agreements made at the negotiating table are the best.”
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38% increase
Air Canada said it offered total remuneration, including benefits and bonuses, by 25% in the first year and 38% over four years, and agreed to pay workers from time spending on ground. Currently, Air Canada commissioners are paid only when the aircraft is moving, not for the work done during boarding – a common practice in industry.
“Negotiations started with Cupe requiring compensation increases greater than 100%,” said Meloul-Wechsler.
In turn, the Cupe stated that the 38% proposal would actually represent a 17.2% salary increase in four years. The union said that a junior commissioner earns C $ 1,952 a month before taxes, and that Air Canada’s best proposal for the first year is an increase of 8%, resulting in C $ 2,108 per month, more than C $ 700 below the full time.
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“Our gain power is getting weaker and weaker,” said Lesesky of Cupe. “More and more commissioners are below the poverty line.”
Air Canada shares rose 0.43% to C $ 19.74 at 2:43 pm in Toronto, but fell about 11% since the beginning of the year.
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