Air Canada suspends operations as flight attendants go on strike

More than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants walked off the job after a contract deadline expired, forcing the airline to suspend all flights on Saturday and stranding thousands of passengers at the height of the summer travel season.

According to Canadian Union of Public Employees spokesman Hugh Pouliot, the strike began after last-minute talks failed to produce a deal. Air Canada announced soon after that it would halt all operations until further notice.

A bitter contract dispute between Air Canada and the union representing more than 10,000 flight attendants escalated on Friday, after the union rejected the airline’s request to enter government-directed arbitration. Such a move would have taken away the union’s right to strike and handed the terms of a new contract to a third-party mediator.

Flight attendants walk off the job

Air Canada flight attendants walked off the job at about 1 am EDT on Saturday after contract talks collapsed, prompting the airline to begin locking crew out of airports.

Federal jobs minister Patty Hajdu said she met with both the airline and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) on Friday night and urged them to “work harder to reach a deal once and for all.”

“It is unacceptable that such little progress has been made. Canadians are counting on both parties to put forward their best efforts,” Hajdu said in a statement on social media.

CUPE spokesman Hugh Pouliot confirmed the late-night meeting with Hajdu and Air Canada representatives. “CUPE has engaged with the mediator to relay our willingness to continue bargaining — despite the fact that Air Canada has not countered our last two offers since Tuesday,” he said in an email. “We’re here to bargain a deal, not to go on strike.”

Travellers in limbo as Air Canada grounds flights

Air Canada’s complete shutdown is expected to affect about 130,000 passengers per day, with as many as 25,000 Canadians abroad potentially stranded. The carrier typically operates around 700 flights daily.

Among the stranded passengers is Alex Laroche, 21, of Montreal, who had been saving with his girlfriend since Christmas for a European vacation. Their $8,000 trip to Nice, France, including nonrefundable lodging, is now in jeopardy. “At this point, it’s just a waiting game,” Laroche said, after learning their Saturday night flight may be cancelled.

Air Canada warned it could take up to a week to fully restart operations once a tentative deal is reached, according to chief operating officer Mark Nasr.

The airline said customers whose travel is impacted can request full refunds through its website or app. It also pledged to arrange alternative travel on other Canadian and foreign carriers “where possible,” but admitted rebooking will be difficult as most flights are already full during the summer peak.

Laroche said he briefly considered buying tickets on another airline, but most seats were sold out or priced at more than double the $3,000 he originally paid.

Initially frustrated by the strike, Laroche said he has since sympathized with the flight attendants after learning about their demands. “Their wage is barely livable,” he said.

Sides remain far apart on pay

Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have been negotiating for nearly eight months but have yet to reach a tentative deal.

The two sides remain deeply divided over wages and the issue of unpaid work that flight attendants perform when planes are not in the air.

Air Canada said its latest offer included a 38 per cent increase in total compensation — covering wages, benefits, and pensions — over four years, which it argued “would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada.”

The union, however, rejected the proposal, noting the 8 per cent raise in the first year falls short of addressing the impact of inflation on members’ pay.

With PTI inputs