Air Canada passengers were anxiously checking in their bags at Pierre-Elliot-Trudeau Airport Saturday night, as a labour dispute between the airline and its pilots’ union threatened to disrupt hundreds of thousands of travel plans.
“We’ll see what happens, but it’s definitely worrying,” said France Baillargeon, putting a tag on her luggage strap. The woman who was preparing to fly to Nice with her partner hopes that the labor dispute will be resolved before she returns from her trip. “We’re going on vacation, we’re trying not to think about it,” she added.
After more than 14 months of negotiations, Air Canada’s union and management were preparing Saturday night to issue a 72-hour notice of a strike. The work stoppage threatens to put a spanner in the works for the 110,000 passengers who fly daily on the wings of the country’s largest airline.
Air Canada, however, implemented a “goodwill policy” targeting customers who had purchased their tickets for travel between September 15 and 23, an offer that France Baillargeon took advantage of to leave Quebec before the strike began.
“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 traveller points out.
A puzzle in sight
Asked whether a work stoppage at Air Canada concerned her, Muriel Philippe had only one word: “Enormously.”
The woman who was leaving to visit her family in France for two weeks fears she won’t be able to return to Montreal on time. “I have to work the day after I get back, I really can’t afford that,” she lamented, running her passport under the optical reader.
“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.”
Although 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.
No resolution
In the previous days, the union and the employer side indicated that they were far from agreeing on the key issue of remuneration.
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents more than 5,200 pilots, blames Air Canada’s greed for the slow pace of talks. The union says the carrier expects pilots to accept below-market pay while it continues to post record profits.
The airline, for its part, claims that the union is lacking flexibility in making “unreasonable wage demands,” prompting it to ask the federal government to intervene if necessary.
Air Canada said it would phase out operations as soon as 72 hours’ notice is given, affecting its 252 aircraft and crews that fly to 47 countries.
If operations are completely halted, the company added that it could take up to 10 days to resume normal operations.
Trudeau does not intend to intervene
While passing through Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, in Montreal’s West Island, on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he respected the right to strike and did not want 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 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.
Many business groups, however, have called on the Trudeau government to intervene to protect the transportation of goods and passengers.
With The Canadian Press