The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have issued a 72-hour strike notice to Air Canada, on behalf of their members who work for the airline as flight attendants.
The union says this comes after Air Canada has refused to recognize that flight attendants should be paid for all their time on the job.
After negotiations reached a stalemate between the two parties, the union issued their strike notice and Air Canada issued the union a 72-hour lockout notice in response.
“For the past nine months, we have put forward solid, data-driven proposals on wages and unpaid work, all rooted in fairness and industry standards,” said Wesley Lesosky, President of the Air Canada Component of CUPE.
“Air Canada’s response to our proposals makes one thing clear: they are not interested in resolving these critical issues.”
In addition to CUPE bargaining to have Air Canada’s flight attendants paid for all their time on the job, they are also trying to negotiate an increase in flight attendant wages to match industry standards, inflation or even federal minimum wage.
According to CUPE, entry-level flight attendant wages have only gone up $3 per hour since 2000 while inflation has increased by 69% in that same timeframe.
“Our locals have had to set up food banks in our union offices for junior members who cannot afford groceries,” said Lesosky.
“Our members need and deserve a fair wage increase that makes everyone whole for the skyrocketing cost of living, and one that lifts our junior flight attendants out of poverty.”
Air Canada has offered an 8% wage increase in the first year during recent negotiations, but the union claims that this would effectively be a pay cut, as it would not even recoup the 9% that flight attendants have lost in purchasing power over the course of their previous contract.
To help mitigate the negotiations process, Air Canada has sought government-directed arbitration to help resolve the situation.
However, it is the union’s belief that Air Canada is banking on this governmental influence to bail them out by pre-empting flight attendants’ Charter-protected right to take job action.
“When we stood together, Air Canada didn’t come to the table in good faith,” explained Lesosky.
“Instead, they called on the federal government to step in and take our rights away. Despite the company’s abhorrent attempts to pre-emptively take away our Charter rights, we remain at the bargaining table, ready to negotiate and avert a shutdown.”
CUPE represents around 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants.
Air Canada’s position
Air Canada says that they have engaged in eight months of good faith negotiations, but have been unable to reach a tentative agreement with the union.
The latest development in negotiations occurred on August 11th, when the airline provided a revised comprehensive proposal to the union.
Air Canada says that this proposal provided for a 38% total compensation increase over four years.
Additionally, the airline says that the offer addressed the issue of ground pay, improved pensions and benefits, increased crew rest and contained other improvements.
For those hoping to fly with Air Canada in the next 72-hours, the airline says they will begin a phased wind down of most of its operations to be completed over the next three days.
“We regret the impact a disruption will have on our customers, our stakeholders and the communities we serve,” said Michael Rousseau, President and Chief Executive of Air Canada.
“However, the disappointing conduct of CUPE’s negotiators and the union’s stated intention to launch a strike puts us in a position where our only responsible course of action is to provide certainty by implementing an orderly suspension of Air Canada’s and Air Canada Rouge’s operations through a lockout.”
The airline says that Air Canada Express flights operated by Jazz and PAL Airlines will continue to operate as normal.
Air Canada carries approximately 130,000 customers a day who could be impacted by a strike action. They added that this includes the 25,000 Canadians that the airline flies home from abroad each day.
On August 11th, Air Canada proposed a third party to assist arbitration, but CUPE rejected the proposal.
This is what prompted the airline to seek government intervention and arbitration as they saw it as their only way to avoid a strike.
Air Canada says that by issuing a lockout, they will be able to ease into the work stoppage, rather than have the strike bring about a sudden work stoppage.
Customers whose flights are cancelled, or will be cancelled, will be notified and eligible for a full refund.
