Latest news with #UnfAirCanada
Ottawa Citizen
2 days ago
- Business
- Ottawa Citizen
Picket lines, disruption at Ottawa airport on first day of Air Canada strike
On the first official morning of the Air Canada flight attendants' strike, a group of about 25 picketers were at the arrivals gate at the Ottawa International Airport. Article content The group waved bright pink Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) flags, with signs around their necks reading slogans like, 'UNPAID work won't FLY!' 'I'm in the sky, Pay is on the ground,' and 'UnfAir Canada!' Article content Article content Article content The strike officially began at 12:58 a.m. ET, with picket lines in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Richmond, B.C., Halifax, and Winnipeg, the Air Canada component of CUPE announced on Aug. 16. Article content Article content Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations are suspended, impacting about 130,000 people each day, according to the airline. Air Canada Express and Air Canada Jazz flights are not affected. Article content 'We want this strike to be as short as possible,' he said. 'No one that you see here wants to be here and doing this for fun on a Saturday morning.' Article content Picketers cheered and waved their flags at cars that drove by, many of them honking their horns. Article content 'We want to work and we want to fly you,' one picketer said to a passenger who cheered en route to the parking garage. Article content Article content Article content 'I want to make this job what it used to be,' he said. 'A career, and not just a summer temporary thing where you're basically working below minimum wage and you quit after six months to a year. Article content 'I want to get it back to what I had, which is a beautiful career, a very fun job and loving people.' Article content According to Bonneville, the union's demands include improved working conditions, like compensation for an average of 35 hours a month of unpaid work. They are also seeking a 'decent increase' in wages that cover the cost of living. Article content 'Everyone here wants to be shown respect,' Bonneville said. 'I want to be hopeful. We are all proud of the work we do, and we all love our jobs.' Article content Article content It's quiet inside the Ottawa airport and away from the picketers outside. Short lines form at check-in desks for other airlines like Porter and WestJet. The Air Canada counter line grew as the morning dragged on.
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Air Canada Starts Canceling Flights: What To Know
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. More than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants are due to go on strike in the early hours of Saturday over a pay dispute, bringing travel chaos to hundreds of thousands of customers at the height of the summer vacation season. The airline says it has begun canceling flights as it prepares for a shutdown. Why It Matters Air Canada has more than 40,000 employees, with more than 250 aircraft traveling to 200 destinations in over 65 countries. The flight attendants' strike will affect more than 130,000 customers a day—including 25,000 Canadians daily who are attempting to come home from abroad—and now at risk of being stranded, the airline said. The strike comes as more Canadians are avoiding the United States this year because of diplomatic tensions and taking vacations at home, putting extra pressure on Air Canada's domestic routes. Passengers wait at an Air Canada check-in counter at Pearson International Airport on August 14 in Toronto. Passengers wait at an Air Canada check-in counter at Pearson International Airport on August 14 in To Know Mark Nasr, Air Canada's chief operations officer, said that cancellations would go from "several dozens" on Thursday, to some 500 by the end of Friday, to the airline being "completely grounded" at the start of the strike on Saturday, in the absence of a resolution. "The impact that this is going to have on our customers is profound and we are going to do everything possible to support them through it," Nasr said at a news conference. "Air Canada is a very complex system … It's simply not the kind of system we can start or stop at the push of a button. So in order to have a safe and orderly wind down, we need to begin now. That includes a first set of cancellations processed this morning, affecting largely long-haul international flights due to depart tonight, providing as much advance notice as we can." "The cancellations will proceed and grow in magnitude … By the time we get to 1 a.m. on Saturday morning, we'll be completely grounded," Nasr added. The news conference ended early, after members of the union stood silently, holding signs that read "UnfAir Canada" and "Poverty wages = UnCanadian." Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) airline division voted overwhelmingly this week to back a strike to press their demand for fair pay, in particular for the unpaid work performed by its flight attendants. The airline only pays for hours in the air, meaning preflight procedures like safety checks are unpaid. "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," he added. With negotiations bogged down over an airline offer, including a 38 percent pay increase over four years, Air Canada proposed resolving the dispute using an arbitrator but the union declined the suggestion. Air Canada says it will offer refunds on tickets and try to book customers on other flights, but there are few available seats in the summer rush. What People Are Saying Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Air Canada's executive vice president for human resources, at Thursday's briefing: "We are extremely disappointed by CUPE's decision which threatens to disrupt the travel plans of more than 130,000 customers a day." Lesosky, in a statement: "While the airline continues to slap junk fees on flyers and gouge the public, they're also exploiting their own employees by severely underpaying flight attendants or refusing to pay them at all for safety-critical aspects of our jobs." What Happens Next In the absence of a last-minute resolution of the dispute, the airline will be grounded in the early hours of Saturday.
CNN
4 days ago
- Business
- CNN
Air Canada will start canceling flights today before it locks out flight attendants. Here's what we know
Canada's biggest airline is poised to start canceling several dozen flights Thursday ahead of a weekend lockout of flight attendants that threatens to throw travel plans for tens of thousands into chaos during the peak summer season. Air Canada said it will gradually suspend operations over three days, ending with 'a complete cessation of flying by Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge' on Saturday, when the lockout is scheduled to begin. Air Canada opted to temporarily halt all flights after a flight attendants union earlier this week voted overwhelmingly to strike. The cancellations could have ripple effects across air travel, based on the size of Air Canada's footprint in the industry and its connections to the US and broader international travel. Air Canada warned that once the lockout begins, it may not offer flights for quite some time, even if the company quickly reaches a deal with the union: The airline said Thursday during a press conference that it would take a week to fully restart after suspension of operations. The briefing came to an end early, after members of the union stood silently, holding signs that read 'UnfAir Canada' and 'Poverty wages = UnCanadian.' Air Canada said it flies about 130,000 passengers every day who could be impacted by the lockout and resultant cancellations. That's including Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights; Air Canada Express flights operated by regional partners will not be affected. Among those passengers are, '25,000 Canadians that the airline flies home from abroad each day, who could be stranded,' Air Canada said in a statement Wednesday reacting to the planned strike, which it preempted with a lockout. The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the local chapter for Air Canada flight attendants, gave a strike notice according to the airline, which triggered a 72-hour lockout notice by Air Canada effective Aug. 16. Nearly all members, 99.7% of the membership voted to strike, the union said. 'We are very disappointed by the actions of CUPE, which will potentially inconvenience hundreds of thousands of customers and Canadians,' said Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, executive vice president, chief human resources officer and public affairs during a press conference Thursday. 'This is a situation that was and still is avoidable. We remain available to continue the negotiations.' Air Canada said it will try to accommodate passengers disrupted by rebooking them on competitor airlines. However, given the peak summer travel season, if not possible, the airline will offer either a full refund of a passenger's ticket and any associated Air Canada services or an option to rebook their travel for a later date without any change fee. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said Thursday morning that the airline had called off 15 domestic flights and no international flights yet, however, more cancellations had begun trickling in throughout the coming days. 'Air Canada is a very complex system,' said Mark Nasr, Air Canada's executive vice president and chief operations office during the Thursday press conference. 'It simply is not the kind of system we can start or stop at the push of a button.' Several dozen mostly long-haul international flight set to leave Thursday night will be part of the first wave of cancelations. By the end of the day Friday, the airline expects to cancel 500 flights, ahead of the full system stoppage on Saturday, Nasr said. Yes, the impact will be felt outside Canada, given the size and scope of the carrier's international operations. Air Canada has nearly 430 daily flights between Canada and the US at over 50 US airports. Air Canada said it will try to get impacted customers on flights with other carriers, which will eat into the number of available seats, which as the airline noted in its statement is already limited this time of year. 'Given other carriers are already very full due to the summer travel peak, securing such capacity will take time and, in many cases, will not be immediately possible,' the airline said. Air Canada is also a member of the Star Alliance, a group of 25 international airlines that coordinate with each other on connecting flights and services. United Airlines, Luftansa, Turkish Airlines and Air China are also alliance members. Besides looking for alternate bookings, Air Canada said customers with canceled flights will be eligible for a refund. The airline 'strongly recommends against' going to the airport unless customers have a confirmed booking and their flights are listed as operating on Air Canada's website and mobile app. Air Canada and the union representing its flight attendants have been unable to reach a new contract agreement after eight months of negotiations, the airline said. The two sides remain far apart on pay, notably for the work flight attendants do when planes are not in the air that the union says they are not paid for. '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 the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the flight attendants union nationally. Air Canada said the union rejected a proposal sent Monday that offered a 38% compensation increase over four years, among other benefits and protections. The union represents about 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants, according to the Associated Press. It's unclear at this point how long the lockout could last. According to CNN affiliate CBC News, protests and other work stoppages have occurred over the years among varying employees, halting some operations. Patty Hajdu, Canadian minister of jobs and families called the lockout and strike vote 'disappointing' in a statement Thursday. 'I urge both parties to put their differences aside, come back to the bargaining table and get this done now for the many travelers who are counting on you,' Hajdu said.
