The union says progress is being made. Air Canada says talks are nearly at an impasse.
Whether you feel good about an Air Canada pilot’s strike being avoided may depend on what message you believe.
In a one-on-one interview with Open Jaw on 12SEP, Jesse Jantzi, vice chair of the master executive council of the Air Line Pilots Association Air Canada group, said there is some momentum.
Pilots: “Certainly, there’s been some progress over the last week. There still remains a fairly wide gap between what management is offering and what our members expect out of a new collective agreement. But I would say there’s cautious optimism.”
Air Canada, however, says talks have stalled and that pilots have rejected “unprecedented” wage hikes. The airline issued a press release 12SEP urging the government to consider jumping in.
Air Canada: “With talks nearing an impasse and time for negotiation running out, the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of Canadians are hanging in the balance,” said Michael Rousseau, chief executive of Air Canada.
“While we remain committed to reaching a negotiated settlement with ALPA, the federal government should be prepared to intervene if talks fail before any travel disruption starts.”
“Air Canada is not seeking immediate intervention,” the airline said. “However, the carrier believes the Government of Canada should prepare in the event talks conclude without an agreement to use its powers to direct binding interest arbitration under Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code before a work stoppage becomes effective.”
This could all be part of a messaging war aimed at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Some experts say a binding decision by a government arbitrator could give Air Canada a better deal with the pilots. Therefore, a push for government intervention makes good political and financial sense for the carrier.
The union, on the other hand, wants to avoid arbitration which they fear would give them a worse deal than they would get from direct negotiations with Air Canada. It’s in their best interest to make the feds think things are going swimmingly.
“The government won’t give pilots what they want,” one source familiar with Air Canada and pilot negotiations told Open Jaw. “It will cost AC less” if there’s a government-imposed deal.
Right now, however, there’s no sign that Ottawa is ready to take the bait.
Speaking shortly after a team of business leaders held a press conference on 12SEP to beg for the Liberal government to get involved, Trudeau said he wants to see what the two sides can do in contract talks.
“The best deal happens at the bargaining table,” he said.
On the other hand, we haven’t heard the Liberal government rule out the idea of intervening, so one has to assume it’s still a possibility.
Charlene Hudy of the Air Line Pilots Association told Reuters she was very disappointed in Air Canada's position.
"We do not want to see any government interference in our collective bargaining ... it really has the effect of tipping the power balance in favor of the employer," she said.
Speaking to CTV News on 13SEP, Hudy said the two sides met earlier in the day
"The talks are very fluid and very dynamic," she said
The Air Line Pilots Association will be in a legal strike position just after midnight Eastern Time on 18SEP. Air Canada has said it will need to begin an “orderly shutdown”on 15SEP, and that some flights, most notably long-haul routes, could be suspended as early as 13SEP.
Air Canada flies more than 600 routes per day. Even a partial shutdown would wreak havoc on Canadian aviation, and impact travel in many other parts of the world.
“At this point we have not cancelled any flights for today due to the disruption,” AC spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said in an email to Open Jaw on the morning of 13SEP. “In the event there are, customers will be notified if there are any changes to their travel.
“This is an evolving situation, and we are adjusting our planning accordingly and trying to minimize disruption,” he said. “Already though, Air Canada Cargo has stopped accepting certain items, such as live animals or perishables. And we have also changed the routing assignments of certain aircraft to ensure they are properly positioned for such things as planned maintenance in event of a disruption.
“There have been a small number of cancellations today, but these are unrelated to the disruption and due to other issues such as maintenance,” Fitzpatrick said.
Open Jaw on 12SEP had a one-on-one interview with Air Canada pilot Jantzi, who said he’s got two kids, has been flying half his life, and is not at all eager to strike.
“It’s unnerving, 100%,” he said. “A potential work stoppage is not what we want. As pilots (Jantzi is first officer on an Air Canada 787) we take tremendous pride in safely flying passengers day after day. To withdraw our services weighs heavily on us.”
Air Canada's 5,400 pilots are demanding wage rates that would narrow the pay gap with their counterparts at major U.S. carriers like United Airlines and Delta.
Reuters said United's new pilot contract included pay increases of about 42%. As a result, some United pilots now earn 92% more than their counterparts at Air Canada, the pilots' association's data shows. In 2013, the pay gap was just 3%.
Some published reports say Air Canada pilots are asking for wage increases as high as 60%.
Jantzi said he can’t reveal exactly what pilots are looking for.
“What I can say is that we have members in our pilot group who earn half of what our competitors earn. New hire pilots are particularly disadvantaged by entry-level wages at Air Canada. One-quarter of pilots require a second job to make ends meet.”
Quality of life and non-wage issues also are important to the union. Hudy told CTV that some Air Canada pilots fly across the Atlantic 10-12 times a month, while many pilots in the U.S. only do so 6-8 times.
"We need pilots to be fully rested" before they report for duty, she said.
Air Canada says it’s not fair for AC pilots to compare themselves with people who fly planes south of the border.
“It does not make sense to base compensation discussions solely on the situation in another country, and that has never been the basis of wage negotiations in Canada,” AC’s Fitzpatrick told the Toronto Star.
Rousseau said Air Canada had offered a wage increase of more than 30%, as well as improved pension and health benefits.
A source told Open Jaw on 12SEP that an unusual number of AC pilots had called in sick during the morning. An Air Canada spokesperson said he wasn’t aware of any such actions.
Jantzi said if any pilots called in sick, they did so on their own authority and were not part of a coordinated effort.
