Air Canada flights could halt next week

Air Canada’s potential work stoppage could ground flights, halt cargo and leave travellers scrambling to reschedule next week.

The airline and its pilots are at a negotiating impasse over wages. The union, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), seeks to narrow the gap between Canadian and American salaries.

In late August, its members voted 98 per cent in favour of a strike.

“We continue to negotiate in good faith,” said union leader Charlene Hudy at the time of the vote. With a US$5 million fund available to sustain a potential work stoppage, the union says it’s “prepared for any outcome.”

Meanwhile, Air Canada has asked the federal government to step in and force arbitration. It would be the second time Ottawa decided to to take the reins of labour negotiations in as many months after trains on Canada’s two largest railways halted in August.

Arbitration is a powerful tool for the government to force a resolution during an impasse, but it’s also controversial – some see it as a necessary step to maintain operations vital to trade and tourism, others call it over-reach.

Outside the boardroom, travellers are anxiously checking the status of their scheduled flights. Air Canada said earlier this week that a 72-hour strike or lockout notice could be issued as early as Sunday, Sept. 15.

Some passengers are having to rearrange their flights amid the uncertainty of the strike.

Lita Llewellyn and Andrew Hoyt are heading to Europe on their honeymoon. They were nervous about the potential strike and so decided to switch their flight home to Icelandair.

“Trying to figure everything out away from Canada would be tough, so we wanted to just make sure we were able to get home okay,” Llewellyn told CTV News’ Sarah Plowman.

“We didn’t want that added stress coming home,” Hoyt added.

Former Air Canada chief operating officer Duncan Dee tells CTV News Channel there is reason to be optimistic about negotiations as both sides are still at the table.

Air Canada reportedly tabling an offer of a 30 per cent increase over three years “should give people added comfort,” he says.

However, it depends on what the pilots choose to do with the offer, he adds.

Dee, comparing this strike to WestJet’s, whose pilots are represented by the same union, says they accepted a 24 per cent increase over four years.

“So with a 30 per cent increase over three years, Air Canada is already offering a deal that is better than that,” Dee explains.

Just one in three Canadians would support government intervention in the dispute.

That’s according to a survey by Abacus Data, which surveyed 2,761 people from Sept. 5 to 11. Just over 40 per cent of respondents said Ottawa should stay out of it, even if the stalemate disrupts travel. A quarter of respondents didn’t have strong feelings either way.

That sentiment was generally the same regardless of party affiliation, though NDP voters were even less enthusiastic about Ottawa stepping in. Just 25 per cent of New Democrat voters supported arbitration. 

“A single day of interrupted service could cause weeks of disruptions.”

That’s according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB), which released a public statement Friday urging the airline and union to consider the impact a stoppage would have on small shops that rely on tourists during the “critical” end-of-summer season.

Air Canada’s spokesperson Christophe Hennebelle echoed that sentiment.

“There is no such thing as a short disruption,” he told CTV’s Your Morning. “There will be inconveniences for days.”  

Air Canada and business leaders have already asked Ottawa to be ready to step in and avoid a stoppage, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a different message Friday:

Figure it out yourself.

Facing questions on whether the government is planning to force arbitration, Trudeau responded adamantly that it shouldn’t be up to the government to do so “every time there’s a strike.”

“I’m not going to put my finger on the scale at either side,” he said during a news conference for a separate announcement in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que.

“As we’ve said repeatedly, we need to make sure the parties are working extremely hard to resolve this,” he said.

Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon met with the airline and union yesterday, Trudeau added, without offering further details.

During a news conference on Wednesday, MacKinnon said “there’s no reason” the parties shouldn’t be able to reach a deal. 

Negotiations are ongoing today.

“Sometimes, we really do feel close to reaching a deal,” said Hudy in an interview with CTV News Channel Friday. “Other times, we feel miles apart.”

She said that among the changes pilots are seeking in their contracts, one particular sticking point concerns the cross-Atlantic pilots, many of whom are performing as many as 12 of trips across the ocean each month.

She said their colleagues at other airlines make that kind of trip between just six and eight times per month.

“There is a real element of fatigue there,” she said, adding that pilots need adequate rest time because they “carry a lot of responsibility.”

An airline spokesperson told CTV’s Your Morning he hopes for a resolution before Sunday.

Failing that, the work stoppage could affect “over 110,000 people a day, who have plans and will be severely inconvenienced,” said Christophe Hennebelle.

He said Air Canada is looking for seats with other airlines for their passengers who may have their flights cancelled.

“But we have to be realistic. There just will not be enough seats for everybody.”

The other issue dominating headlines is compensation. The union wants a pay increase, and though the airline says they’ve made a proposal, Air Canada claims it was met with “unreasonable” demands.

CTVNews.ca has reached out to the union for a response. 

Air Canada has already stopped accepting certain cargo, such as perishables and live animals, in case the airline grounds its fleet. Certain aircraft have been rerouted, should a disruption happen and they require maintenance.

Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick told CP24 the airline has not cancelled any flights in anticipation of the stoppage, but preparations are underway.

“Customers will be notified if there are any changes to their travel,” he wrote in a statement.

This article will be updated through the day. Check back for updates.