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Air Canada Urges Government To Intervene As Labor Dispute With Pilots Escalates
OTTAWA, Ontario – On Thursday, Canada’s largest airline and business leaders urged the federal government to interfere in labor discussions with its pilots to avoid a shutdown, but the labor minister said the two sides should reach an agreement.
Air Canada spokesman Christophe Hennebelle stated that the company is dedicated to negotiating, but that it cannot satisfy the Air Line Pilots Association’s salary requests.
“The issue is that we are faced with unreasonable wage demands that ALPA refuses to moderate,” he told me.
Air Canada Urges Government To Intervene As Labor Dispute With Pilots Escalates
The union representing 5,200 pilots claims that Air Canada continues to produce record profits while expecting pilots to accept below-market pay.
The airline and its pilots have been in contract negotiations for over a year. The pilots want to be compensated competitively with their counterparts in the United States.
Beginning Sunday, the two sides will be able to issue a 72-hour notice of a strike or lockout. The airline has stated that the notice will trigger its three-day wind-down plan and begin a full work halt as early as September 18.
Hennebelle stated that the airline is not seeking urgent government assistance, but that it should be prepared to help minimize massive disruptions caused by a shutdown of an airline that transports more than 110,000 passengers each day.
“The government should be ready to step in and make sure that we are not entering into that disruption for the benefit of Canadians,” according to him.
Several business groups gathered in Ottawa on Thursday to demand action, including binding arbitration, to minimize the economic consequences that a shutdown of the airline would bring.
Arbitration “can help bring the parties to a successful resolution and avoid all of the potential impacts we’re here to talk about today,” Candace Laing, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, told a news conference.
Goldy Hyder, CEO of the Business Council of Canada, said in a statement that Canada cannot afford another major disruption in its transport network.
“A labour disruption at Air Canada would have far-reaching consequences for our economy,” Hyder said in a statement.
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon told a news conference Wednesday night that the two parties should achieve an agreement.
“There’s no reason for these parties not to be able to achieve a collective agreement,” stated the mediator.
“These parties should understand exactly what my message is to them today. Knuckle down and strike a bargain.”
In August, the Canadian government requested that the country’s industrial relations board issue a back-to-work order to terminate the railway shutdown.
Air Canada Urges Government To Intervene As Labor Dispute With Pilots Escalates
“There are significant differences between those two situations and leave it at that,” according to MacKinnon.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Thursday that his party would oppose measures to force pilots back to work.
SOURCE | AP
