Air Canada Strike: Short-Term Pain, But This Too Shall Pass

It’s a waiting game now. 

Will the Air Canada Component of CUPE decide that it has got as much as possible out of the employer for its flight attendant members and make a last-minute tentative deal?

Will Air Canada decide that the negative financial and reputational damage of a strike during peak summer will be more costly than improving its offer to flight attendants?

Will the federal government move to cut short a potential strike – with hundreds of flights already cancelled – by forcing the two parties into binding arbitration?

The answers to these questions will likely be revealed in the next 24 hours. If none of these moves are made, by morning Saturday, August 16, Air Canada will essentially be shut down, likely with tens of thousands of travellers and crew members stranded around the world waiting for alternative travel arrangements to get home.

The growing hostility between the two parties was demonstrated yesterday during an Air Canada press conference in Toronto. CUPE union members dressed in flight attendant uniforms disrupted the event multiple times, with some standing directly in front of the stage where executives Arielle Maloul-Wechsler and Mark Nasr were answering questions from reporters.

Christophe Hennebelle, Air Canada’s VP of corporate communications, who was hosting the conference, stated: “I’m asking CUPE one last time the question: ‘Are you preventing us from continuing with a press conference?'” 

Receiving no answer, he said: “Unfortunately, we will have to interrupt this press conference here. I am really sorry about the questions we have not been able to answer.”

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.

Air Canada says it has offered an overall compensation increase of 38%, and says CUPE began negotiations by asking for an increase in excess of 100%, which the airline called unsustainable.

By gradually shutting down before the strike begins, Air Canada says it will allow as many customers as possible to complete their journeys, and make it easier to facilitate an orderly restart, which it says will take a full week to complete.

 “This too will pass,” said John Kirk, a long-time travel industry executive and Editor-in-Chief of Travel Market Report Canada. 

“Many airlines have failed in Canada, it’s a very difficult place to successfully operate a carrier. Airlines like Air Canada, WestJet and Porter Airlines have survived because they’ve provided good service, decent on-time performance and safe flights.”

“It’s like a marriage,” Kirk added. “There are going to be ups and downs between airlines and their employees, but they’ll get through it. In the grand scheme of things, three or four days of inconvenience is not the end of the world. The consumer wants to see happy airline crew members. The airline wants that too. They’ll get there, even if the process is messy and unpleasant.” said Kirk. ” We all hope both parties end up satisfied and happy. A happy team will, for the most part, always deliver better quality and service than an unhappy crew. Nobody wins when you have unhappy inflight crew, there is a long list of failed airlines in Canada which have proven this”

Kirk says Canadians who booked through professional travel advisors will have an easier time navigating a difficult situation. “Whether it is finding alternative travel arrangements, advocating on a client’s behalf or rebooking flights at a time of high load factors, having a travel advisor in your corner is the best place to be.”