Unless a last -minute agreement, all Air Canada flights will be suspended on Saturday. The union representing the 10,000 on -board agents rejected the request for enforceable arbitration requested by the employer.
Federal Minister of Employment Patty Hajdu had given until noon on Friday to the Air Canada component of the Canadian Public Service Syndicate (SCFP) to accept the request.
In front of this refusal, a strike will be launched on Saturday, nailing all the devices sporting the red maple sheet on the ground. Earlier this week, the union formally transmitted to the employer its strike notice involving 10,000 on -board agents. It will therefore start at 0:58 on Saturday if the games do not get along by then. Air Canada replied by transmitting to the union a lockout opinion, which would start at 1:30 am on Saturday.
The carrier has already started to proceed with the gradual suspension of its flights. Doctors were canceled Thursday and around 500 will suffer the same fate on Friday, Air Canada announced during a press briefing held in Toronto.
This service stop has turned into a real headache for travelers. During a vacation period, alternatives to bring them back safely with other carriers may be rare and expensive.
Although the company has assured that travelers would be reimbursed and that it was impossible in order to raise its customers in the devices of other airlines, the task may be difficult. According to the carrier, around 130,000 people fly every day with Air Canada.
“It is important to keep in mind that we are in the middle of the summer season,” said in a press conference Mark Nasr on Thursday, General vice-president and operations chief. The places available on other airlines are extremely limited. »»
Quebecers whose theft has been canceled are stuck abroad, without knowing when they can come back. Martin Theorêt and his spouse learned just a few hours ago than their flight from Nice and bound for Montreal, scheduled for Saturday afternoon, was canceled. The couple, who have two children, hopes to be relocated to another flight within 48 hours, because the price of tickets with another airline is “exorbitant”. “It revolves around $ 2,000 or $ 2,500 per person,” says Martin Theorêt. For a family of four, the bill is salty. “We were five days in Paris, we went down to the Côte d’Azur for another six nights,” says the technician in biomedical engineering, who works at the Pierre-Le Gardeur hospital in Terrebonne.
“We are returned to a lot of money … if it takes $ 10,000 from our pockets again to return to Montreal …” Martin Theorêt does not want the agents of Air Canada. His spouse and work in the public health network. “I don’t disagree with what they are doing. Perhaps I want the employer more. The fact remains that this conflict spoils the end of their vacation. “The last two days, we didn’t want to do things,” he said.
Negotiations
Meanwhile, the two parties engage in wars of figures. Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, General vice-president and head of human resources and public affairs, presented the employers’ offer as generous. She spoke of an increase in total remuneration of 38 % in four years, which would make her on -board agents “the best paid in Canada”.
According to him, the carrier “does not ask for any concession from the on -board agents in return”. This includes “a new provision concerning remuneration for the ground service, the best in industry in Canada, hourly rates [qui] could reach up to $ 94 per hour on the first year and an hourly wage [qui] would increase by 12 to 16 % the first year, ”said the press release.
“By 2027, on-board agents with more seniority would earn an average of $ 87,000 per year, and 20 % of on-board agents would earn $ 90,000 per year,” it is also said.
For her part, the president of the local section of Montreal Air Canada, Natasha Stea, rejected the employer’s figures from the back of the hand. “I do not know how they are doing their calculation, but it is certain that it was a calculation which is biased,” she suggested during the press point of the union. Salary and “unpaid work” are among the main demands of union members.
