AIR CANADA PILOTS PICKET AT TORONTO’S PEARSON:

Air Canada pilots are demonstrating at Toronto’s Pearson airport today, calling for better wages and working conditions as talks with the country’s biggest carrier continue. The Air Line Pilots Association kick-started the bargaining process in June, one day after fellow union members at WestJet ratified a new collective agreement.

The union represents more than 5,000 Air Canada pilots.

Both union and employer say the so-called informational picket at Terminal 1, which comes the same day their own nine-year deal expires, will not affect Air Canada’s flight schedule.

Charlene Hudy, who heads the union’s Air Canada contingent, says the agreement has grown stale, with co-workers leaving for better pay in the United States.

Air Canada says it remains engaged in productive discussions with the union, with the deal’s provisions remaining in effect.