MONTREAL: Air Canada flight attendants extended their strike into a fourth day on Tuesday (Aug 19), although the union said both sides had resumed talks as hundreds of thousands of passengers had flights cancelled during the busy summer travel season.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees’ (CUPE) refusal to follow a federal labour board order for the flight attendants to return to work has created a three-way standoff between the company, workers, and the government. It has also raised the stakes in a dispute that is now closely watched by other labour groups.
The union had met with Air Canada and mediator William Kaplan in Toronto, CUPE said in a statement on Facebook late Monday. The strike is still on, it said.
The two sides had not spoken since before the strike began. A source said there are discussions being held on whether to hold mediation, but with the condition that the flight attendants return to work.
Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu had urged both sides to consider government mediation and raised pressure on Air Canada, promising to investigate allegations of unpaid work in the airline sector, a key complaint of flight attendants who say they are not paid for work on the ground. Flight attendants have for months argued new contracts should include pay for work done on the ground, such as boarding passengers.
Air Canada’s CEO in a Reuters interview defended the airline’s offer of a 38 per cent boost to flight attendants’ total compensation on Monday but acknowledged a big gap with the union’s demands and stopped short of offering plans to break the deadlock.
The union has said Air Canada’s offer only accounts for 17.2 per cent higher wages over four years.
CUPE’s leader said earlier he would risk jail time rather than allow cabin crews to be forced back to work by the labour board, which declared the strike unlawful.
The union says the strike will continue until the carrier negotiates on wages and unpaid work, even after the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) declared the strike unlawful.
Retiree Klaus Hickman missed a flight to Toronto earlier in the week. While he rebooked on another airline, he was concerned about returning to Calgary on time for a connecting flight to Germany.
Hickman sympathises with workers demanding better pay but is worried about his own health and travel challenges.
“They want to get more money to survive. And so it is with everybody else,” he said.
Canada’s largest carrier normally carries 130,000 people daily and is part of the global Star Alliance of airlines.
