Hard on the heels of a 24 per cent pay increase won by their counterparts at WestJet earlier this month, Air Canada pilots have used an escape clause provision in their contract to force the airline to begin negotiations this summer. They signed a 10-year deal in 2014, so the move moves contract negotiations up by a year.
As Open Jaw reported, WestJet's pilots' negotiations set the scene for future bargaining at Air Canada. Around 4,500 Air Canada pilots officially joined ALPA - the same union that represents WestJet pilots - the same week that ALPA secured its double-digit deal for WestJet pilots.
According to an "internal table" seen by Reuters, a "top-paid" AC B787 pilot makes CAD $313.81/hour after 11 years. Under WestJet's newly-negotiated deal, the same pilot at WestJet would - by 2026 - earn over $30/hour more: $347.16.
WestJet pilots also secured "additional benefits and restructuring of retirement funds, according to an executive summary," and, according to GlobalNews, upon ratification, WS pilots will also receive an hourly pay raise this year of 15.5 per cent retroactive to 01JAN this year.
Air Canada pilots don't want to risk leaving that kind of money on the table by waiting til next year to negotiate.
Reuters reports they have previously indicated they want to see "historic" gains in their compensation and benefits to narrow the gap with major airlines' pilots in the U.S., which have recently achieved deals like Delta's 34 per cent pay increase for its pilots.
By contrast, Air Canada pilots have received a 2 per cent pay increase annually since reaching their 2014 deal with the airline.
Now that their union, ALPA, has triggered the escape clause to force negotiations this year, that agreement expires on 29SEP, 2023 (although its terms will continue to apply past that date.)
ALPA says it expects "a notice to bargain to be provided in early June."
On its part, Air Canada acknowledged that its pilots had the option to initiate collective bargaining, and added in a statement, "The current agreement, which has been in place for nine years, is testimony of the productive relationship we have with our pilots."
