Air Canada has failed to reach a successful settlement with its pilots after its offer of a 30% wage increase was rejected following weeks of negotiation.
According to the Air Canada group at the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the union representing more than 5,400 Air Canada pilots, the last time pilots entered into a collective agreement with the airline was 10 years ago.
Head of the Air Canada group at ALPA, Charlene Hudy told the National Post that the union has been trying to reach an agreement with Air Canada for more than a year.
“When we compare ourselves to our North American industry counterparts, the new hires that I’m representing are making one third of what our industry counterparts are. And that’s after you’ve already spent some time in the industry gaining experience as a professional pilot,” Hudy was quoted by the National Post.
According to ALPA, Air Canada’s wage increase offer still falls short of what pilots at other major North American airlines earn, especially when factoring in the high cost of living in major Canadian cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal.
Meanwhile, Canada’s national carrier said in a statement that it is finalizing contingency plans to suspend most of its operations as talks with ALPA nears an impasse over union’s “excessive wage demands”.
“Air Canada believes there is still time to reach an agreement with our pilot group, provided ALPA moderates its wage demands which far exceed average Canadian wage increases,” said Michael Rousseau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada.
“However, Canadians have recently seen the chaos abrupt airline shutdowns cause for travelers, which obliges us to do everything we can to protect our customers from an increasingly likely work stoppage. This includes the extremely difficult decision to begin an orderly shutdown of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge once a 72-hour strike or lock out notice is given, possibly as early as this Sunday [September 15, 2024],” Rousseau continued.
Air Canada prepares for orderly shutdown to mitigate customer impact resulting from labour disruption: https://t.co/jF6AqBMqAh
— Air Canada (@AirCanada) September 9, 2024
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Air Canada prépare l'arrêt ordonné de ses activités afin d'atténuer l'effet d'un conflit de travail sur ses clients : https://t.co/zEnXW1BeBV pic.twitter.com/qOb6Fc9V0f