Travellers can breathe a sigh of relief: Air Canada and its pilots announced on the night of Saturday to Sunday that they had reached an agreement in principle that should make it possible to avoid a work stoppage.
After more than 14 months of negotiations, the carrier announced that it has reached a preliminary agreement on a four-year collective agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the union that represents more than 5,200 pilots employed by Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge.
“The new agreement recognizes the contributions and professionalism of Air Canada’s pilot group, while providing a framework for the future growth of the airline,” the airline said in a statement.
In the previous days, the union and the employer had indicated that they were far from agreeing on the key issue of remuneration.
Before reaching an agreement with Air Canada, ALPA complained that the carrier expected pilots to accept below-market pay while it continued to post record profits. The airline, for its part, said the union was lacking flexibility by making “unreasonable wage demands.”
The work stoppage threatened to throw a spanner in the works for the 110,000 passengers who fly daily on the wings of the country’s largest airline.
Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon welcomed the deal shortly after midnight Sunday on X. “Negotiated agreements are always the best way forward,” he added.
A headache avoided
Passengers who had moved up their flights in anticipation of a labour dispute can revert to their original booking, Air Canada announced in its statement. The carrier had implemented a policy allowing customers who had purchased tickets for travel between September 15 and 23 to move their flights free of charge.
Hours before the agreement was announced, concern was felt among Air Canada passengers checking in their luggage at Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau airport on Saturday, awaiting news of the negotiations.
Met in the evening, France Baillargeon had taken advantage of the policy to leave for a few days earlier for Nice with her partner. “It’s good, but it still costs us dearly: the three extra nights we had to take at the hotel cost us 250 euros each,” the traveler stressed.
France Baillargeon hoped that the labor dispute would be resolved quickly. “We go on vacation, we try not to think about it,” she added.
“We’re in the dark,” said Pierre Lefebvre, luggage in hand. The retiree and his partner, Maryse Desranleau, were leaving to visit their daughter in Vancouver for three weeks, a stay they hope will last longer than the strike. “We’re sleeping at our family’s house, so we’re not in a bad situation,” she said. “Still, it would be nice if this was sorted out by then.”
Even though the couple’s tickets were non-changeable, Air Canada offered to move up their departure date, a “satisfactory” approach, according to Maryse Desranleau. “Air Canada did things very well in that regard,” added Pierre Lefebvre.
A sigh of relief
The announcement spares Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a dilemma, as Air Canada had asked him to prepare to intervene in the event of a strike or lockout.
While passing through Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, in Montreal’s West Island, on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that he respected the right to strike and did not wish to get involved in the labour dispute between Air Canada and its pilots, unless federal intervention was absolutely necessary to resolve the impasse.
PHOTO DARRYL DYCK, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
The Prime Minister had stressed that the government would not intervene quickly, as it did in the rail sector labour dispute that rocked the Canadian economy in August.
ALPA Canada President Tim Perry urged the federal government to respect workers’ collective bargaining rights and refrain from intervening in the negotiation process in a statement Friday.
However, many business groups had called for the Trudeau government to intervene to protect the transportation of goods and passengers.
With The Canadian Press