Air Canada flight attendants picket at airports; businesses seek government intervention
The strike, which started just before 1 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT), forced Canada's largest airline to cancel all of its 700 daily flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers who had to find alternative flights or stay put.
The airline said in a statement on Saturday that it has started locking out thousands of flight attendants in response to the strike action.
The carrier had offered a 38% increase in total compensation for flight attendants over four years, with a 25% raise in the first year, which the Canadian Union of Public Employees said was insufficient.
CUPE, representing more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants, confirmed the work stoppage in a social media post. It is the first strike by Air Canada flight attendants since 1985.
Wesley Lesosky, president of the Air Canada component of CUPE, said in a press conference in Toronto that, as of Saturday morning, there were no bargaining sessions scheduled between the two sides, which have held on-and-off negotiations for months.
"We are here because Air Canada forces us to work for free for hours and hours every day, and we are here because we are not going to accept it anymore," he said.
Outside Toronto Pearson International Airport - the country's busiest - hundreds of cabin crew waved flags, banners and picket signs. Union officials called on members to assemble outside all of the country's major airports, including in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.
Montreal-based Air Canada said the suspended flights included those operated by its budget arm, Air Canada Rouge. The stoppage would affect about 130,000 customers a day, the carrier said in a statement. Flights by Air Canada's regional affiliates - Air Canada Jazz and PAL Airlines - will operate as usual.
The dispute between the union and the airline centers on wages. Attendants are currently paid only when their plane is moving. The union is seeking compensation for time spent on the ground between flights and when helping passengers board.
The union has said Air Canada offered to compensate flight attendants for some work that is now unpaid but only at 50% of their hourly rate.
A source close to the negotiations told Reuters the union is looking for parity on wages with Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat, where flight attendants approved a contract last year that provided for total compounded increases of 30% over five years, making them the highest paid in the industry in Canada.
Air Canada did not confirm if such a proposal had been put forth by the union.
"What we're asking for is not unreasonable. It is not a high demand. It is not that far off other competitors such as Air Transat. It is realistic and it is deserved," Lesosky from CUPE said.
The impact of a strike will ripple far beyond Canada. Air Canada is the busiest foreign carrier servicing the U.S. by number of scheduled flights.
While passengers have generally voiced support for the flight attendants on social media, Canadian businesses - already reeling from a trade dispute with the U.S. - have urged the federal government to impose binding arbitration on both sides, ending the strike.
"The federal government has a responsibility to all Canadians to use its lawful authority to restore service today. The cost of inaction would be devastating," Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, said on Saturday.
The Canada Labour Code gives Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu the right to ask the country's Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration in the interests of protecting the economy.
Air Canada has asked Prime Minister Mark Carney's minority Liberal government to act, but the union says it wants a negotiated solution, as binding arbitration would take pressure off the airline.
Hajdu has repeatedly urged the two sides to return to the bargaining table.
In a note to clients, analysts at financial services firm TD Cowen urged the carrier to "extend an olive branch to end the impasse," adding that investors are worried that any cost savings on labor would be outweighed by lost earnings in the airline's most important quarter.
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