Canada’s largest airline expects full shutdown as workers protests over claims of ‘poverty wages’ and unpaid labour

Canada’s largest airline has started cancelling flights during the peak summer travel season ahead of a strike by more than 10,000 flight attendants over what they say are “poverty wages” and unpaid labour for work when planes aren’t in the air.

Air Canada said it would start suspending flights on Thursday ahead of full shutdown on Saturday after the flagship carrier and the union representing the flight attendances failed to resolve a months-long dispute over pay and working conditions.

About 130,000 customers a day could be affected by a disruption, according to the airline.

Air Canada and the Canadian union of public employees (CUPE) have been negotiating a new collective agreement for flight attendants since March. Among the unresolved issues are wages and compensation for work carried out on the ground. Flight attendants are currently not paid for any work before or after the plane takes off.

Air Canada’s vice-president of corporate communications told CBC News on Tuesday that there was a “huge gap” between the two sides.

Air Canada says it has offered “an increase of more than 38% on global compensation”, but the union says that figure still fails to fully account for inflation.

Air Canada also said it was willing to pay flight attendants 50% of their wage for work done before planes take off, but Cupe says its members should be fully paid for that labour.

Earlier this week, the union representing Air Canada’s flight attendants declined Air Canada’s request to resolve negotiations through arbitration. Under that scenario, a third-party arbitrator would weigh proposals from each side and then make a final decision that both the union and Air Canada would have to accept.

“Despite our best efforts, Air Canada refused to address our core issues,” the union said after it rejected the request for arbitration.

Air Canada says its decision to gradually suspend flights will allow for an orderly winding down of operations. The airline said it has also made arrangements with other carriers to give customers possible alternative travel options amid one of the year’s busiest travel periods.

“We regret the impact a disruption will have on our customers, our stakeholders and the communities we serve,” said Michael Rousseau, Air Canada’s chief executive, in a statement.

Canada’s federal minister for jobs and families, Patty Hajdu, said in a social media post on X Tuesday evening that she was monitoring the situation, but that the federal government wasn’t stepping in. “The best agreements are the ones the parties reach themselves,” she wrote.

Source: www.theguardian.com