Around 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants will be in a legal position to strike in less than two weeks, but the airline says it’s confident there is enough runway left to reach a deal that avoids grounding numerous flights.
The Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees says negotiations with the airline are set to resume Friday after its members voted 99.7% in favour of a strike mandate.
The vote means flight attendants can potentially walk off the job as soon as Aug. 16 at 12:01 a.m. with at least 72 hours’ notice provided.
While that may have travellers already sweating about their summer vacation plans, Air Canada has said it “firmly believes that there is more than enough time to reach … an agreement and avoid disrupting the plans of hundreds of thousands of travellers.”
Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick says “it is premature to speculate or discuss possible contingencies” as the airline is focused on reaching an agreement with the union via negotiations.
The union is also optimistic it can avoid a work stoppage, but says Air Canada needs to “bring respect to the table” by moving on its asks for higher wages and the elimination of unpaid labour.
CUPE said its strike mandate does not mean that a strike is guaranteed, only that union members support the measure if the bargaining team decides to call for a work stoppage.
The vote was conducted after the conciliation process concluded without reaching a deal. The two sides have been in contract talks since the start of the year.
The union has pointed to key outstanding issues including pay, pensions and unpaid work such as pre-flight safety checks.
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