While trying to woo workers, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is not ruling out the possibility of the federal government intervening in the event of a labour dispute between Air Canada and its pilots. In fact, he is opposed to Ottawa imposing binding arbitration or special legislation “now.”
“To impose an end to the negotiation now would be ridiculous and we would not tolerate that,” he declared on Wednesday during a press scrum in Ottawa.
Mr. Poilievre said he understands why Air Canada pilots are “frustrated” and called on the airline to negotiate to find common ground.
“It’s ridiculous that our pilots are paid much less than Americans. Pilots in the United States, they are paid much more. In addition, they pay much less taxes,” he said.
On Monday, Air Canada announced that it was finalizing the “final details” of its plan to reduce its activities that it will implement if negotiations with its pilots do not lead to a conclusion by the end of the week and a work stoppage is triggered.
Starting Sunday, the employer and the union will have the opportunity to file a 72-hour notice of strike or lockout, which would result in a work stoppage starting mid-next week.
In a letter to federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, regional groups and some forty business organizations expressed their “deep concern” about the impact that such a labour dispute would have “on Canadians, the country’s economy, supply chains and, more importantly, on our global reputation.”
“The federal government must act decisively to avoid a work stoppage at Air Canada,” they say.
More specifically, they call on Ottawa to “act upstream” in the absence of a negotiated agreement and “submit the dispute to binding arbitration where a neutral arbitrator can resolve all issues in dispute.”
Facing reporters, federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon refused to open his game if a conflict breaks out. “Air Canada and its union must do the necessary work to reach a solution that works for both parties,” he said simply on the sidelines of the Liberal caucus retreat in Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Why would Air Canada negotiate after seeing how the federal government acted just two weeks ago by forcing railway workers back to work? Because there are “significant differences” between the two situations, the minister retorted without wanting to elaborate.
His Minister of Transport, Pablo Rodriguez, judged the day before that the impact of a labour dispute at Air Canada would be “too great” with “enormous consequences from every point of view, including for the economy.”
According to the minister’s statements, there are an average of 110,000 people travelling with Air Canada every day and 90 routes served solely by this company.
“Don’t let him fool you,” Singh said.
Asked to respond to Mr. Poilievre’s comments, New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh retorted that the Conservatives and their leader have “always” interfered in labour disputes and have “always” chosen the side of big business at the expense of workers.
“That’s their record,” he said on the sidelines of their pre-sessional caucus in Montreal. “They interfered to attack the unions. That’s who Pierre Poilievre is. That’s who the Conservatives are.”
Mr Singh, who heads a party founded by the working class, denounced the fact that, unlike him, Mr Poilievre had “not said a word” to support the striking railway workers a few weeks ago and was only playing a “political game”.
“You know who your friends are when you fight,” he summed up. “Don’t let him fool you. He’s someone who attacks workers every chance he gets.”
The Bloc Québécois declined to comment on Mr. Poilievre’s remarks. In an interview Monday, Bloc labour critic and former union leader Louise Chabot said that forcing binding arbitration or imposing special legislation, including during a dispute, is “unimaginable.”
She denounced Air Canada’s “strategy” which, according to her, seems to be to increase the pressure by cancelling flights, a bit like the railway companies did by stopping freight trains, in order to gain leverage in order to “force the government to act” even before there is a conflict.
Air Canada’s 5,400 pilots have given themselves a strike mandate that has been supported by 98% of union members.
Negotiations over the renewal of the collective agreement have been ongoing since June 2023. The pilots are demanding better wages, better pension benefits and improvements to their quality of life. Their employer has called their demands excessive.
According to a source close to the negotiations, Air Canada is proposing a 30% wage increase over four years, as well as improvements to benefits. The source has learned that the pilots are asking for wage increases of between 30 and 60%.
With information from Émilie Bergeron, in Nanaimo, British Columbia, and Pierre St-Arnaud, in Montreal