Air Canada grounds hundreds of flights as cabin crew set up picket lines

TORONTO – Air Canada cancelled hundreds of flights on Aug 16 as it began shutting down operations in response to a strike by flight attendants, triggering summer travel chaos for its 130,000 daily passengers.

Canada’s largest airline, which flies directly to 180 cities worldwide, urged customers not to go to the airport if they have a ticket for Air Canada or its lower-cost subsidiary Air Canada Rouge.

It said flights by Air Canada Express, which are operated by a third party, would not be impacted by the walkout.

“Air Canada deeply regrets the effect the strike is having on customers,” the company said in a statement.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (Cupe), which represents Air Canada’s 10,000 flight attendants, said that strike action officially began at 12.58am (12.58pm Singapore time) on Aug 16.

In response, Air Canada began a “lockout” of cabin crew belonging to Cupe, preventing the employees from working during the stand-off fuelled by a payment dispute.

Air Canada had been gradually winding down operations ahead of the possible labour action.

As at 8pm on Aug 15, the airline said it had cancelled 623 flights affecting more than 100,000 passengers. Its full 700-flight daily schedule has been scrapped for Aug 16.

“At this time, Air Canada remains engaged and committed to negotiate a renewal to its collective agreement with Cupe,” it said.

Outside Toronto Pearson International Airport – Canada’s busiest – hundreds of cabin crew waved flags, banners and picket signs. Union officials called on members to assemble outside all of the country’s major airports, including in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.

Unpaid ground work

The dispute between the union and the airline centres on wages.

Attendants are currently paid only when their plane is moving. The union is seeking compensation for time spent on the ground between flights and when helping passengers board.

The union has said Air Canada offered to compensate flight attendants for some work that is now unpaid, but at only 50 per cent of their hourly rate.

The carrier offered a 38 per cent increase in total compensation for flight attendants over four years, with a 25 per cent raise in the first year, which the union said was insufficient.

The impact of a strike will ripple far beyond Canada. Air Canada is the busiest foreign carrier servicing the US by number of scheduled flights.

While passengers have generally voiced support for the flight attendants on social media, Canadian businesses – already reeling from a trade dispute with the US – have urged the federal government to impose binding arbitration on both sides, ending the strike.

The Canada Labour Code gives Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu the right to ask the country’s Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration in the interests of protecting the economy.

Air Canada has asked Prime Minister Mark Carney’s minority Liberal government to act, but the union says it wants a negotiated solution, as binding arbitration would take pressure off the airline.

Ms Hajdu has repeatedly urged the two sides to return to the bargaining table.

In a note to clients, analysts at financial services firm TD Cowen urged the carrier to “extend an olive branch to end the impasse”, adding that investors are worried that any cost savings on labour would be outweighed by lost earnings in the airline’s most important quarter.

“We think it would be best for Air Canada to achieve labour peace,” the note said. “Not budging on negotiations risks being a Pyrrhic victory.” AFP, REUTERS