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RTHK
2 days ago
- RTHK
Air Canada strike begins as contract talks break down
Air Canada strike begins as contract talks break down An Air Canada ground staff member addresses the issue of flight disruption with a passenger at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Photo: Reuters Air Canada's unionized flight attendants walked off the job early on Saturday after contract talks with the country's largest carrier stalled, in a move that could disrupt travel plans for more than 100,000 passengers. The union representing more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants confirmed the action in a social media post at around 0100 ET, 1pm Hong Kong time, in the first strike by cabin crew since 1985. Air Canada, which flies directly to 180 cities worldwide, said it had "suspended all operations" in response to the work stoppage. "Air Canada is strongly advising affected customers not to go to the airport," it said, adding that it "deeply regrets the effect the strike is having on customers." Attendants are currently paid when the plane is moving and the union is seeking to also be compensated for time on the ground between flights and helping passengers board. Montreal-based Air Canada, which is expected to respond quickly by locking out the workers, has said it anticipated cancelling 500 flights by the end of Friday during the busy summer travel season. It expected around 100,000 people to be affected on Friday alone. Flight attendants are likely on Saturday to picket at major Canadian airports, where passengers were already trying to secure new bookings earlier in the week, as the carrier gradually wound down operations. Passenger Freddy Ramos, 24, said on Friday at Canada's largest airport in Toronto that his earlier flight was cancelled due to the labor dispute and he had been rebooked by Air Canada to a different destination. "Probably 10 minutes prior to boarding, our gate got changed and then it was cancelled and then it was delayed and then it was cancelled again," he said. Air Canada and its low-cost affiliate Air Canada Rouge normally carry about 130,000 customers a day. Air Canada is also the foreign carrier with the largest number of flights to the United States. While the dispute has generated support from passengers on social media for the flight attendants, Canadian businesses reeling from a trade dispute with the United States urged the federal government to impose binding arbitration on both sides, which would end the strike. Air Canada has asked the minority Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney to order both sides into binding arbitration although the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the attendants, said it opposed the move. 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. Hajdu has repeatedly urged the two sides, which are not bargaining, to return to the table. The union has said Air Canada offered to begin compensating flight attendants for some work that is now unpaid but only at 50 percent of their hourly rate. The carrier had offered a 38 percent increase in total compensation for flight attendants over four years, with a 25 percent raise in the first year, which the union said was insufficient. In a note to clients on Friday, 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 labour are outweighed by lost earnings in the airline's most important quarter. "We think it would be best for AC to achieve labor peace," the note said. "Not budging on negotiations risks being a Pyrrhic victory." (Reuters)
RTHK
2 days ago
- RTHK
Mexico strikes deal for tri-national 'Earth's lung'
Mexico strikes deal for tri-national 'Earth's lung' Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo hosts his Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum in Peten, Guatemala. Photo: Reuters The leaders of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize have announced they are creating a tri-national nature reserve to protect the Mayan rain forest following a meeting during which they also discussed expanding a Mexican train line criticised for slicing through jungle habitat. The nature reserve would stretch across jungled areas of southern Mexico and northern parts of the two Central American nations, encompassing more than 5.7 million hectares. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called the move 'historic' and said it would create the second biggest nature reserve in Latin America, behind the Amazon rain forest. 'This is one of Earth's lungs, a living space for thousands of species with an invaluable cultural legacy that we should preserve with our eyes on the future,' she said, standing side by side with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo and Belize Prime Minister Johnny Briceno. The announcement was met with cautious celebration by environmental groups like Mexico-based Selvame, who have sharply criticised the Mexican government and Sheinbaum's allies in recent years for environmental destruction wrought by megaprojects like a controversial train line, known as the Maya Train. The group said in statement that the reserve was a 'monumental step for conservation" but that it hoped that the reserve was more than just 'symbolic'. 'We're in a race against the clock. Real estate and construction companies are invading the jungle, polluting our ecosystems, and endangering both the water we consume, and the communities that depend on it,' the group wrote. It called on Sheinbaum's government to put an effective monitoring system in place to 'stop any destructive activities'. At the same time, the leaders also discussed a proposal by Mexico to expand the very train line those environmental groups have long fought from southern Mexico to Guatemala and Belize. The 1,600-kilometre train route currently runs in a rough loop around Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, and was created with the purpose of connecting Mexico's popular Caribbean resorts with remote jungle and Mayan archaeological sites in rural areas. However, it has fuelled controversy and legal battles as it sliced through swathes of jungle and damaged a delicate cave system in Mexico that serves as the area's main source of water. In a span of four years, authorities cut down approximately seven million trees, according to government figures. Sheinbaum's mentor and predecessor former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador fast-tracked the train project without detailed environmental studies. The populist repeatedly ignored orders from judges to stop construction due to environmental concerns and publicly attacked environmentalists warning about damage done to fragile ecosystems. Lopez Obrador first proposed the idea of expanding the train to Guatemala, and Sheinbaum has continued to push for the project. On Friday, she said the extension would usher in development in rural areas with few economic opportunities. But Arevalo was already on record saying Guatemala's laws would not allow it to be built through protected jungle in the north of the country, and he said on Friday he sees the economic potential of the project to the jungle region but remained adamant that the construction should not come with the kind of environmental damage that it inflicted in Mexico. 'Connecting the Maya Train with Guatemala and eventually with Belize is a vision we share,' Arevalo said. But 'I've made it very clear at all times that the Maya Train will not pass through any protected area.' (AP)
RTHK
3 days ago
- RTHK
Air Canada starts axing flights as strike looms
Air Canada starts axing flights as strike looms The Canadian Union of Public Employees says some Air Canada flight attendants are earning less than the minimum wage. Photo: Reuters Air Canada has started cancelling flights ahead of a possible work stoppage by flight attendants that could impact hundreds of thousands of travellers. A complete shutdown of the country's largest airline threatens to impact about 130,000 people a day. The union representing around 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants issued a 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday. In response, the airline issued a lockout notice. Mark Nasr, chief operations officer, said the airline has begun a gradual suspension of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations. "All flights will be paused by Saturday early morning," he said. Nasr said this approach will help facilitate an orderly restart "which under the best circumstances will take a full week to complete". He said a first set of cancellations involving several dozen flights will impact long-haul overseas trips that were due to depart on Thursday night. "By tomorrow evening we expect to have cancelled flights affecting over 100,000 customers," Nasr said. "By the time we get to 1am on Saturday morning we will be completely grounded." He said a grounding will affect 25,000 Canadians a day abroad who may become stranded. They expect 500 flights to be cancelled by the end of Friday. He said customers whose flights are cancelled will be eligible for a full refund, and it has also made arrangements with other Canadian and foreign carriers to provide alternative travel options "to the extent possible". Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, head of human resources for Air Canada, said its latest offer includes a 38 percent increase in total compensation including benefits and pensions over four years. The union has said its main sticking points revolve around what it calls flight attendants' "poverty wages" and unpaid labour when planes aren't in the air. Some flight attendants at the airline's news conference on Thursday held up signs that read "Unpaid work won't fly" and "Poverty wages = UnCanadian". Canadian Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu on Thursday urged the airline and the union to come back to the bargaining table. In a statement, Hajdu also said Air Canada had asked her to refer the dispute to binding arbitration. She said she had asked the union to respond to this request. (AP/Reuters)
