Montreal/Toronto (with files from Canadian Press/NYT) – UPDATE – NYT is reporting; Just under 12 hours after Air Canada’s 10,000 flight attendants walked off the job, seeking better wages and creating travel chaos, the government imposed binding arbitration to shut down the strike.
“Canadians rely on air travel every day, and its importance cannot be understated,” Patty Hajdu, the labor minister, told reporters. “Now is not the time to take risks with the economy.”
Air Canada will not immediately begin flying, she said. An independent industrial relations board will need 24 to 48 hours for a review before issuing a back-to-work order. Ms. Hajdu said that Air Canada has told the government that restoring full service would take an additional five to 10 days.
She said that the airline and negotiators met through Friday night into Saturday morning. While an offer was made by one of the parties, she said, talks collapsed.
“It is clear that they are at an impasse,” she said.
ORIGINAL STORY – So much for summer travel plans. Air Canada is now in the process of notifying customers with imminent travel of additional cancelled flights and their options.
The union representing more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants says its members have walked off the job after it was unable to reach an eleventh hour deal with the airline.
The strike officially began just before 1 a.m. ET on Saturday.
The airline said all Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights would be cancelled amid the work stoppage. Around 130,000 customers will be affected each day that the strike continues, the company said.
“Air Canada deeply regrets the effect the strike is having on customers,” it said in a brief statement early Saturday morning.
Flights by Air Canada Express, which are operated by third-party airlines Jazz and PAL, are not affected.
Air Canada and CUPE have blamed each other for their bargaining impasse, with the union rejecting a request for binding arbitration and the company imposing a lockout.
The Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees has said its main sticking points revolve around wages that have been outpaced by inflation during the course of its previous 10-year contract, along with unpaid labour when planes aren’t in the air.
