A bitter contract fight between Canada’s largest airline and the union representing its flight attendants escalated Friday.
TORONTO, ON — Air Canada has ceased all operations as more than 10,000 of its flight attendants initiated a strike early on Saturday, following the lapse of a negotiation deadline. This move has left travelers worldwide stranded and in turmoil during the peak summer travel season.
The start of the strike was confirmed by Canadian Union of Public Employees spokesman Hugh Pouliot, with the airline soon announcing its decision to halt all operations.
Tensions over contract negotiations between Canada’s leading airline and the union representing 10,000 flight attendants intensified on Friday. The union rejected the airline’s proposal to engage in government-directed arbitration, which would have removed their right to strike and allowed a third-party mediator to determine the terms of a new contract.
Flight attendants walk off the job
Flight attendants began their strike at approximately 1 a.m. EDT on Saturday. Concurrently, Air Canada began locking flight attendants out of airport facilities.
Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu met with both the airline and union representatives on Friday night, urging both parties to intensify efforts towards “reaching a conclusive agreement.”
“The lack of substantial progress is unacceptable. Canadians are depending on both parties to make their strongest efforts,” Hajdu emphasized in a statement shared on social media.
Pouliot, the spokesman for the union, earlier said the union had a meeting with Hajdu and representatives from Air Canada earlier Friday evening.
“CUPE has engaged with the mediator to relay our willingness to continue bargaining — despite the fact that Air Canada has not countered our last two offers since Tuesday,” he said in a email. “We’re here to bargain a deal, not to go on strike.”
Travelers are in limbo
A complete shutdown will impact about 130,000 people a day, and some 25,000 Canadians a day may be stranded abroad. Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day.
Montreal resident Alex Laroche, 21, and his girlfriend had been saving since Christmas for their European vacation. Now their $8,000 trip with nonrefundable lodging is on the line as they wait to hear from Air Canada about the fate of their Saturday night flight to Nice, France.
How long the airline’s planes will be grounded remains to be seen, but Air Canada Chief Operating Officer Mark Nasr has said it could take up to a week to fully restart operations once a tentative deal is reached.
Passengers whose travel is impacted will be eligible to request a full refund on the airline’s website or mobile app, according to Air Canada.
The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible. But it warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because flights on other airlines are already full “due to the summer travel peak.”
Laroche said he considered booking new flights with a different carrier, but he said most of them are nearly full and cost more than double the $3,000 they paid for their original tickets.
“At this point, it’s just a waiting game,” he said.
Laroche said he was initially upset over the union’s decision to go on strike, but that he had a change of heart after reading about the key issues at the center of the contract negotiations, including the issue of wages.
“Their wage is barely livable,” Laroche said.
Sides say they’re far apart on pay
Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees have been in contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal.
Both sides say they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes aren’t in the air.
The airline’s latest offer included a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions over four years, that it said “would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada.”
But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8% raise in the first year didn’t go far enough because of inflation. ___
Associated Press airlines writer Rio Yamat reported from Las Vegas.
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