Air Canada Avoids Strikes by Negotiating Last-Minute Deals with the Pilots’ Union.

(VOR News) – Early on Sunday morning, Air Canada said it had reached a preliminary agreement with its pilots’ union on a new collective agreement set to take effect four years from now.

Negotiated at last, this deal will stop a strike or lockout from materialising in the not too distant future. This is so since the agreement was obtained at the last minute.

The biggest airline in Canada had been getting ready for the scenario in the days before the temporary agreement was reached. Apart from the slow cancellation of flights over the three days, these preparations included the complete closing of its operations starting on Wednesday, September 18 Eastern Daylight Time (0401 GMT).

An announcement made by the airline stated that Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, together running more than 670 flights daily and moving almost 110,000 people in addition to goods, would now go on running as if nothing had changed concerning their operations.

According to a statement the airline released, the terms of the new agreement Air Canada struck with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents more than 5,200 pilots, would be kept under wraps.

To maintain the Air Canada agreement confidentially, a declaration was made.

The vote required for the members of the ALPA to complete is expected to be completed in one month. This explains the emergence of this predicament.

The American Labourers’ Pension Association (ALPA) released a second statement claiming that the organisation’s officials have approved their members to accept the provisional deal with Air Canada. This comment was given concurrently with the other one spoken.

The pilots have been requesting compensation rates that would help to close the wage difference between them and their colleagues at major American airlines over the whole fifteen months they have been negotiating a new contract.

This would be a major first in reaching their target of lessening the salary difference. During the negotiations, both sides have been diligent at work and attended several events.

A post published on X by the Minister of Labour claims that the diligent work of the parties engaged in the bargaining process as well as the federal mediators helped to avoid travel interruptions for Canadians. The material of the post said this.

In a statement released on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the government of Canada will not step in to address the matter in the same way as it did twenty-24 hours the month before to settle a strike that broke out at Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

Trudeau’s comment was given in response to a query regarding whether or not the Canadian government would step in to address the matter.

Given if, Trudeau said the Air Canada government would act.

In the past, Air Canada had not only improved its health benefits and pension but also given its staff a pay increase of more than thirty percent. On the other hand, the union claimed that the plan fell short of the expectations of its members, who had been living and working in line with the wage rates and standards of quality-of-living set in 2014. These guidelines originated in 2014.

Pilots contracted by American airlines have been able to effectively negotiate large pay increases in new contracts during the past two years. Negotiations have produced these rises. This happens at a time when personnel availability is limited and the number of tourists is rising.

For instance, the current pilot contract United signed had pay increases more than 42 percent more than the one in place past. Based on the statistics supplied by the pilots’ organisation, certain United pilots today make 92% more than their airline counterparts at Air Canada.

This is so resulting from the increasing competitiveness of air travel. Based on the statistics, the salary variations among every employee amounted to just three percent in 2013.

SOURCE: CNBC

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