Air Canada flight attendants intend to strike this weekend, union says
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) gave the carrier a requisite 72-hour notice after the two sides reached an "impasse" in negotiations. The earliest their more than 10,000 workers can walk off the job is on Saturday at 12:58 a.m. ET.
CUPE representatives say that in response to their strike action, Air Canada has issued a notice of lockout starting at 1:30 a.m. ET on Saturday.
"We do hope that Air Canada will come to some form of rationale and show up at the table and truly engage us in bargaining the final pieces of this," said Wesley Lesosky, president of CUPE Air Canada Component.
The two sides have been negotiating a new collective agreement since March, going over key issues like wages, work rules and unpaid hours.
Air Canada said late Tuesday afternoon that the two sides were far apart in negotiations.
What's next?
CBC News reported earlier on Tuesday that CUPE had declined a proposal by Air Canada to resolve the talks through binding interest arbitration, and that both the union and the airline were back to reviewing each others' proposals. That work went on past midnight on Tuesday, but resulted in the union serving strike notice almost an hour later.
"The employer rejected our final pass ... that we gave them on some monetary issues. We wanted to thoroughly review it, but really wanted the members to still be in the forefront of that decision. So it took a lot of discussion," said Lesosky.
WATCH | The latest on the negotiations before the strike was called:
Air Canada had said that any passengers booked to travel between Aug. 15 and Aug. 18 can change their flight if desired, provided that it was purchased no later than Aug. 13. The airline was also going to allow these passengers to change their flights, for free, to another date between Aug. 21 and Sept. 12.
"If your flight is cancelled, we will do our very best to rebook you on the first available flight, exploring options with over 120 international and domestic carriers," the airline said on its website. "As we are in peak summer travel season, we know that space will still be very limited. If your travel is disrupted, you can always choose a refund."
CBC News has reached out to Air Canada to confirm the lockout notice and for the company's latest plan for passengers who might be affected.
"On behalf of the flight attendants, obviously we are sorry and empathetic towards this, but we also need to bargain a collective agreement. And unfortunately, this was the next stage in the process," said Lesosky.
"I would assume that we're going to start seeing kind of their ramp down [on Wednesday]. I would certainly hope that they're not going to leave our members stranded. They're obviously working to those destinations and should be brought back."
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