Air Canada is working on plans to begin suspending operations in anticipation of an impending pilot strike, the airline said in a statement Monday morning.
Unless a deal is reached by Sunday, Air Canada or the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents 5,200 Air Canada pilots, could issue a 72-hour strike or lockout notice.
Air Canada President and CEO Michael Rousseau said in a statement that while there is still time to reach an agreement with the pilots, “Canadians have recently seen the chaos that abrupt airline closures cause for travellers, requiring us to do everything we can to protect our customers from an increasingly likely work stoppage.”
Rosseau said 80 per cent of Air Canada passengers could be affected by the work stoppages. The airline said it will begin an “orderly wind-down” of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations once a strike or lockout notice is issued.
Air Canada Express flights will continue to operate, with third-party carriers Jazz and PAL Airlines providing these services. However, these regional partners carry only about 20 per cent of Air Canada’s daily customers, many of whom ultimately make stops on Air Canada flights.
The airline said a work stoppage could affect 110,000 passengers a day.
Receive daily national news
Receive the day’s top stories, including political, economic and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
The Airline Pilots Association has not set a strike date, but Pilots have voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike mandate If an agreement on a new contract cannot be reached.
According to the airline’s policy, customers with tickets for travel between Sept. 15 and Sept. 23 can rebook on any other Air Canada flight to the same origin and destination through Nov. 30 at no additional cost. Customers who wish to cancel and rebook their travel for after that date will not be charged change fees, but will be required to pay the fare difference.
The pilots’ union says negotiations have been stalled since last week.
“Due to the confidential nature of the negotiations, we are unable to comment [on] “Specific proposals are being passed between the parties at the negotiating table,” said First Officer Charlene Hudy, chair of Air Canada’s ALPA master executive council, in a statement Thursday when asked if the airline had made any offers to the union.
Hudy added: “What we can say is that as of last week, the talks had completely stalled.”
Hudy did not share further details about Air Canada’s offers, but said percentage increases in salaries would depend on a pilot’s seniority. He said this would mean young pilots would likely see the highest increase should a deal be reached.
“They live in Canada’s largest cities and are currently earning wages that make it very difficult to support a family,” Hudy said.
“A quarter of our pilots have a second job, and nearly 80 percent of them need it out of necessity. We are trying to change that. Also, because of our last 10-year contract, our compensation has not kept pace with inflation or the levels of our peer airlines.”
Last week, Air Canada said in a statement that it intended to reach a negotiated settlement with the union.
The airline said there has been progress in its negotiations and it hopes to reach an agreement, but it still faces the possibility of a strike by its 5,200 pilots as early as September 17, when the union will be in strike position.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
