The Air Canada pilots union is printing “Strike Ready” material as a potential job action looms for mid-September.
The CBC says AC pilots are now voting whether to give the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) a strike mandate. It also quotes the pilots’ union as saying that management and union negotiators are “far apart.”
The earliest possible job action would be 17SEP.
“The pilots are frustrated," said first officer Charlene Hudy, chair of the master elected council, which represents pilots during talks with the airline.
"We've seen a large gap between ourselves and our American counterparts," she said. "Right now, some of my American counterparts are making twice as much as I do and the pilots that I represent."
The CBC says the union is handing out lanyards, stickers, and pins that display the phrase "Strike Ready" to its more than 5,500 members.
Pilots said they’ve been in contract negotiations with Air Canada since June last year and have been without a contract since late September 2023.
In a written statement on 08AUG, pilots said federal conciliation will end on 26AUG, at which point a 21-day cooling-off period will begin.
“If a new contract is not reached between the two parties by the end of the cooling-off period, the pilots, who have a strike ballot set to close on August 22, will be in a legal strike position as soon as September 17, 2024,” they said.
Air Canada president and CEO Michael Rousseau addressed the pilot talks in a conference call on 07AUG, following the release of AC’s second quarter financial statement.
The airline has a number of issues to deal with this year, he said, including “entering new stages of certain labour agreements, which have to be cost competitive in the Canadian market for us to be successful.”
“We have reached agreement on several items," Rousseau said. "There’s more obviously to agree on and we’re hoping we can do that over the next several weeks.”
