NO DEAL: Air Canada Strike is on as 10,000 Flight Attendants Hit the Picket Lines

There was no eleventh-hour deal. Ten thousand Air Canada flight attendants walked off the job early this morning, leaving the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of Canadians in limbo.

As flight attendants get ready to picket at airports across the country, Air Canada passengers — about 130,000 of them each day — are now scrambling for travel alternatives.

Social media groups are lighting up with stories of chaos, with many reporting Air Canada has failed to find another flight on a different airline to get them home due to the lack of availability in peak season.

“Air Canada deeply regrets the effect the strike is having on customers,” it said in a brief statement early Saturday morning.

“Negotiations between CUPE and Air Canada have ended in impasse,” CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees which represents the flight attendants) said in a press release early Saturday morning.

“We are heartbroken for our passengers. We do not want to go on strike, and we do not want to be locked out, but it is clear that Air Canada has no incentive to bargain.”

Despite these statements, there’s no indication of a resumption of negotiations, and the next move will likely come from the federal government, which has the authority to end the strike by sending the two parties into binding arbitration.

CUPE says the main points of contention include wages that have been outpaced by inflation during the course of a previous 10-year contract, along with unpaid labour when planes aren’t in the air. The union’s 10,000 Air Canada flight attendant members sent a strong message of support when they voted 99.7% in favour of a strike mandate last week.Both sides had claimed the other was avoiding continuing bargaining in the days leading up to the strike.

Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, AC’s EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer, said they never left the table. “We have made offers and we have responded to every offer (CUPE) made. CUPE wasted 10 precious days while they sought a strike mandate,” she said Thursday. Meloul-Wechsler also said CUPE was seeking “unsustainable” compensation goals.

CUPE meanwhile says on August 12 Air Canada “unilaterally declared an impasse and withdrew from the bargaining table to not return.” During an Air Canada press conference on Thursday, CUPE protesters silently gathered holding signs, which led Air Canada to cut the event short.

On Friday, Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu urged Air Canada and the union to get back to the negotiating table. She also asked CUPE to consider the airline’s request for arbitration, but that was turned down. 

CUPE says the prospect of the federal government using the Canada Labour Code to force arbitration has led Air Canada to stop engaging in “good faith” negotiations. It said mandatory arbitration would “interfere in negotiations” and result in “a contract imposed by an outside third-party arbitrator.”

Flight attendants appear to have some significant support from Canadians.

A weighted survey of 1,500 respondents conducted Thursday and Friday by Abacus date found that 59% of Canadians believe the federal government should respect union members’ right to take job action, even if it causes travel disruptions.

A much higher number – 88% — of those polled say that flight attendants should be paid for all work-related duties, one of the major points of contention in the labour dispute.

Air Canada is strongly advising affected customers not to go to the airport unless they have a confirmed ticket on an airline other than Air Canada or Air Canada Rouge. 

The airline says it will notify customers with imminent travel of additional cancelled flights and their options. For those customers due to travel soon whose flights are not yet cancelled, Air Canada has put in place a goodwill policy to allow them to rebook their travel or obtain a credit for future travel. For more information, click here.

The strike is expected to continue indefinitely unless federal mediation is introduced or a new deal is reached.

Advice and useful links for travellers can be found here.

***This is a developing story. Check back for updates as the situation unfolds.