In response to being served a 72-hour strike notice by the union representing Air Canada flight attendants, the airline has responded with a lockout notice.
Early this morning CUPE advised Air Canada of its intention to strike beginning at 12:58 am EDT on Saturday, 16AUG; right in the heart of the busy summer season. Canada's largest airline says it will begin cutting flights on 14AUG, with more flights being trimmed on 15AUG and a complete shutdown of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge on Saturday, 16AUG.
Air Canada’s issued the following lockout notice at 6:40 am EDT:
Air Canada today said that it has issued the statutory 72-hour lockout notice to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) representing 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge after the union provided notice it intends to begin a strike. To provide customers certainty, Air Canada will begin a phased wind down of most of its operations to be completed over the next three days. The airline has also sought government-directed arbitration to resolve the situation.
Despite eight months of good faith negotiations that included the assistance of federal conciliators, and an offer to enter binding arbitration, Air Canada has been unable to reach a tentative agreement with the union. Air Canada tabled a revised comprehensive proposal to the union on August 11, which sought no concessions in return from its Flight Attendants and provided for a 38 per cent total compensation increase over four years. The offer also addressed the issue of ground pay, improved pensions and benefits, increased crew rest and contained other improvements. In an additional attempt to prevent travel disruption, Air Canada had also offered to CUPE to enter third-party, binding arbitration to settle the outstanding points of discussion. CUPE has responded by issuing a notice to begin a strike as early as August 16.
“We regret the impact a disruption will have on our customers, our stakeholders and the communities we serve. However, the disappointing conduct of CUPE’s negotiators and the union’s stated intention to launch a strike puts us in a position where our only responsible course of action is to provide certainty by implementing an orderly suspension of Air Canada’s and Air Canada Rouge’s operations through a lockout. As we have seen elsewhere in our industry with other labour disruptions, unplanned or uncontrolled shutdowns, such as we are now at risk of through a strike, can create chaos for travellers that is far, far worse,” said Michael Rousseau, President and Chief Executive of Air Canada.
Open Jaw continues to monitor the situation closely.
