At 12:58 a.m. today, the Air Canada Component of the Canadian Union for Public Employees announced that flight attendants intend to walk off the job this weekend. In response, at 1:30 a.m. Air Canada issued a lockout notice.
In a union press release, the bargaining unit’s president Wesley Lesosky says they don’t feel the company is listening to their concerns.
“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 Lesosky.
“Air Canada’s response to our proposals makes one thing clear: they are not interested in resolving these critical issues.”
For its part, Air Canada says it issued the lockout notice to mitigate the complications of suspending operations due to the strike.
“We regret the impact a disruption will have on our customers, our stakeholders and the communities we serve. However, the disappointing conduct of CUPE’s negotiators and the union’s stated intention to launch a strike puts us in a position where our only responsible course of action is to provide certainty by implementing an orderly suspension of Air Canada’s and Air Canada Rouge’s operations through a lockout,” said Air Canada’s President and Chief Executive Michael Rousseau.
In their release, the union says the company has not come to a reasonable offer.
“The airline is also refusing to increase flight attendant wages to match industry standards, inflation, or even federal minimum wage,” the release said.
“Entry-level flight attendant wages have only gone up $3 per hour since 2000 while inflation has increased by 69% in the same timeframe.”
Air Canada says they believe their offer to be fair.
“Our latest offer included a 38 per cent increase in total compensation over four years that would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada, along with provisions for ground pay and other work-life balance, career and pension improvements. At the same time, we asked for no concessions from the union. Given this, while we remain available for discussions with CUPE, we have requested government-directed arbitration as we now view it as the only certain avenue to bring closure to bargaining and mitigate the impact on travellers, business and the Canadian economy.”
The union believes the initial raise proposed in a recent offer does not even cover recent inflation
“Air Canada’s offer of an 8% wage increase in year one would not even recoup the 9% that flight attendants have lost in purchasing power over the course of their previous contract. It is, in effect, a pay cut,” the Union’s release said.
The union’s president contends that the company will likely now look to the government to legislate or force the flight attendants back to work.
“Air Canada is clearly banking on the federal government bailing them out by pre-empting flight attendants’ Charter-protected right to take job action,” the release said.
“When we stood together, Air Canada didn’t come to the table in good faith,” Lesosky added. “Instead, they called on the federal government to step in and take our rights away. Despite the company’s abhorrent attempts to pre-emptively take away our Charter rights, we remain at the bargaining table, ready to negotiate and avert a shutdown.”
Air Canada has begun preparing ahead of the possible weekend shut down, in its press release it issued the following notice to customers who may be impacted:
“Customers whose flights are cancelled will be notified and they will be eligible for a full refund, which can be obtained online at www.aircanada.com or through the Air Canada mobile app. The company has made arrangements with other Canadian and foreign carriers to provide customers alternative travel options to the extent possible. Customers will be notified of alternative travel options that are identified for them. However, 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.
“Air Canada has undertaken other measures to mitigate the impact on customers. This includes implementing a flexible rebooking policy for all customers, so they can change or defer travel at no additional cost. Air Canada will in all cases inform passengers of their rights under applicable rules if their flight is cancelled or delayed and meet its regulatory obligations.”
