Air Canada will cancel all its flights from Saturday morning, if the air carrier does not reach an agreement with its 10,000 on -board agents, managed management at a press conference in Toronto.
Air Canada’s manager of Air Canada operations said the air carrier should gradually cancel certain flights before suspending all flights on Saturday morning. The complete judgment could affect nearly 130,000 passengers per day.
“To do things in safe ways and in order, we must start now [à annuler des vols] », a dit M. Nasr.
The company specifies that customers whose flights are canceled will be entitled to a full refund.
Photo Nathan Denette, Canadian Press
Air Canada shorted off its press conference due to the presence of unionized members who held a sign in silence.
The lucky ones will be offered a place on a flight from another company. “However, it is important to keep in mind that we are in the middle of the summer season,” said Nasr. The places available on other airlines are extremely limited. »»
The Canadian Public Service Syndicate (SCFP) plans to trigger a strike on Saturday, shortly before 1 a.m. The air carrier will impose a lockout.
The points in dispute relate in particular to the salary of on -board agents and unpaid work when the planes are not in flight.
The employer and the union returned the ball, bringing the odious disadvantages suffered by travelers to the other party. Their versions of negotiations are diametrically opposed. Air Canada shorted off its press conference due to the presence of unionized members who held a sign in silence.
Air Canada’s Human Resources Head, Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, said she was disappointed with the on-board vote. She accused the union of having dragged the negotiations in the last days and of having led discussions to a “dead end”.
The SCFP also returns the Air Canada ball, which it accuses of having cut off the negotiations. “For our passengers, it feels very bad,” said the president of the Local Section of Montreal Air Canada, Natasha Stea, in a press scrum after the Air Canada interrupted conference.
We have our passengers to heart. We are sorry for everything that could happen. This is not what we want. What we would like is to return to the table to have a contract.
Natasha Stea, president of the local section of the Air Canada Montreal agents
The two parties waged a war of numbers. Mme Meloul-Wechsler 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”.
Mme Stea rejected the employers’ version from the back of the hand. “They talk about an offer that we have never seen. […] We are not the best paid in the country, retorted the on -board agent. With the increase they offer, we would not yet be paid in Canada. »»
Thursday morning, the Federal Minister of Employment, Patty Hajdu, once again called the two parties to stay at the negotiation table until an agreement is concluded.
Photo Patrick Sanfaçon, La Presse Archives
Patty Hajdu, Federal Minister of Employment
She took note of the fact that the employers’ party has filed a request for negotiations to move to enforceable arbitration and said they asked the union to respond to the employer’s request.
Earlier this week, the SCFP had dismissed the possibility of accepting enforceable arbitration, believing that it was an attempt by the employer to deprive the union members of their rights.
In her declaration, Minister Hajdu reiterated that federal mediators are willing and able to work with the parties “24 hours a day until they reach an agreement”.
“I urge the two parties to put their disputes aside, to return to the negotiating table and to conclude an agreement now for the many travelers who count on you,” she decided.
Mme Stea said he feared that the federal part intervenes to end the conflict. “I think there is a tone in the air, that the government may get involved and remove a right. And that is not correct and it hurts me. »»
Despite the turbulence, Air Canada’s action earned $ 0.02, or 0.10 %, at $ 19.68 on the Toronto Stock Exchange around noon.
Ottawa remains silent on a possible intervention in negotiations
If Ottawa reaches the government’s request for intervention made by Air Canada in a contractual conflict with its union of on -board agents, this could further erode collective negotiation rights during future negotiations, estimate experts in labor law.
The airline asked for an arbitration ordered by the government under article 107 of the Canadian Labor Code, but Ottawa did not indicate if it would intervene.
This request occurred while about 10,000 Air Canada and Red Air Canada online agents are ready to strike on Saturday shortly before 1 a.m., and that the company also plans to put them in lockout if a last minute agreement cannot be concluded.
In a statement published Thursday morning, the Federal Minister of Employment, Patty Hajdu, took note of the Air Canada request, adding that she had asked the union to respond while urging the two parties to return to the negotiation table.
Larry Savage, professor of labor law at BROCK University, judges that Air Canada uses his opinion as a lockout “as a means of pressure on the Prime Minister”, while the Liberal government led by Mark Carney faces its first major work stoppage of employees under federal regulation.
Although Mr. Savage recognizes that there is a “long tradition” of government intervention in work conflicts in Canada, he believes that the growing recourse to the measures ordered by the ministers is “worrying”.
Sammy Hudes, the Canadian press
