About 623 flights were cancelled in Canada after a union for flight attendants announced that they were going on strike. The 72-hour Strike was planned by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), a union that represents about 10,000 flight attendants in both Air Canada and Air Canada rouge.
After the strike was announced, Air Canada said that it was locking out its workers and suspending all operations on Thursday. The airline, which connects to 180 cities worldwide, has cancelled its 700 daily flight schedule for Saturday, affecting about 13,000 customers.
Why is CUPE on strike?
The strike began after talks between CUPE and Air Canada reached an impasse concerning the compensation for flight attendants through both wages and the ground pay. Ground pay refers to compensation given to the attendants while on the ground. The union said that apart from a wage increase, the attendants should also be paid for the uncompensated ground work. Groundwork often involves tasks like boarding passengers onto the planes. Flight attendants are usually only paid for the hours they spend in the air, making the time they spend in between unpaid.
Air Canada had asked Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu to make a referral under Section 107, the Canada Labour Code, to send the negotiation to binding interest arbitration.
CUPE said that they would not use arbitration, a process where a neutral third party steps in to decide on specific items that they can't agree on. Arbitration is an alternate form of resolving disputes and are often faster than court processes.
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Hajdu had given CUPE until the afternoon to respond, but the union declined. The union said that it wants to stay at the negotiating table and have the two parties come to the agreement themselves. This is because arbitrations rarely result in new changes.
The union accused Air Canada of not bargaining in good faith "due to the likelihood of the federal government using Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to interfere in negotiations and have a contract imposed by an outside third-party arbitrator," reported The Canadian Press.
A press release put out by the union said that "The union has been firm: all safety-related duties should be paid at full hourly rate. Air Canada does not agree. On wages, Air Canada’s last offer will still leave flight attendants living below poverty levels for many years to come."
The strike will not be affecting 300 separate regional Air Canada Express flights operated by Jazz Aviation and PAL Airlines, which are on propeller planes, reported the New York Times. TD Cowen analyst Tom Fitzgerald said in a note that a three day strike could cost the airline about $217.09 million in earnings.
59 per cent of Canadians believe that Air Canada should pay its attendants the full rate hourly for the work on the ground, according to a poll released on Friday by the Angus Reid Institute.
However, Rafael Gomez, head of the University of Toronto’s Centre for Industrial Relations, said that it was common practice around the world to compensate the attendants based on the time they spend in the air. He also said that the union had effectively run a campaign around the issue, creating a perception of unfairness in the public.
The airline has promised passengers whose flights were cancelled, a full refund or an opportunity to reschedule their flights.
