Air Canada will resume operations after reaching a tentative deal with the union that represents flight attendants. The flight attendants had been on strike since Saturday. File Photo by Graham Hughes/EPA
Air Canada and the union representing Canadian flight attendants have reached a tentative deal to end the strike that started Saturday.
“Flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge have reached a tentative agreement, achieving transformational change for our industry after a historic fight to affirm our Charter rights,” the Canadian Union of Public Employees said in a statement.
Air Canada said it will gradually restart its operations Tuesday after reaching a mediated agreement with CUPE through a process overseen by a mutually agreed-to mediator.
“The suspension of our service is extremely difficult for our customers,” Air Canada said in a statement. “We deeply regret and apologize for the impact on them of this labor disruption. Our priority now is to get them moving as quickly as possible.
“Restarting a major carrier like Air Canada is a complex undertaking. Full restoration may require a week or more, so we ask for our customers’ patience and understanding over the coming days. I assure them that everyone at Air Canada is doing everything possible to enable them to travel soon,” said Michael Rousseau, president and CEO of Air Canada.
More than 10,000 flight attendants walked off the job Saturday over pay and scheduling issues.
The airline estimated Monday that 500,000 customers had seen canceled flights because of the strike.
“Unpaid work is over,” CUPE announced. “We have reclaimed our voice and our power. When our rights were taken away, we stood strong, we fought back — and we secured a tentative agreement that our members can vote on.”
In a separate note to its members, the union said that the deal was reached at 4:23 a.m. EDT after just over nine hours of talks and the help of a mediator, the New York Times reported.
“We must fully cooperate with the resumption of operations,” the message said.
The details of the agreement haven’t been announced, but one of the flight attendants’ demands was that Air Canada follow the lead of some U.S. airlines and pay flight attendants for the work they do on the ground before and after a flight. Many airlines only pay flight attendants when the airplane doors are closed.
Before the strike, the union said that Air Canada had accepted the idea of paying for ground work, but was only offering half pay for that time.
CUPE also wanted higher wages. Air Canada offered 17.2% raises, but the union said it wasn’t enough to cover inflation.
On Monday, Labor Minister Patty Hajdu said she had started an investigation into unpaid work by flight attendants. In an interview with CBC News, she called the issue “deeply disturbing.”
A hearing on Sunday by the Canada Industrial Relations Board declared the strike unlawful, and it ordered the leadership of CUPE to tell its members to return to work by noon Monday. But the union refused and continued the strike.
Union secretary and treasurer Candace Rennick said in a statement that the government’s order was “a disgraceful misuse of power that reeks of systemic bias and corporate favoritism.”
