Air Canada will start canceling flights over the next three days after its flight attendants gave a 72-hour notice to strike Wednesday.
The airline responded to the union representing its 10,000 flight attendants for Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge's notice to strike by issuing a 72 hour lock out notice.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the flight attendants’ union, said in a statement that Air Canada “has chosen confrontation over resolution,” noting the airline sent its lock out notice about 30 minutes after its notice to strike.
Air Canada announced Wednesday the start of its “phased wind down of most of its operations” over the next three days. Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights will be “gradually suspended” over this time period while Air Canada Express flights won’t be impacted, a press release from the airline said.
“We regret the impact a disruption will have on our customers…As we have seen elsewhere in our industry with other labour disruptions, unplanned or uncontrolled shutdowns, such as we are now at risk of through a strike, can create chaos for travellers that is far, far worse,” Michael Rousseau, the airline’s president and CEO, said in the release.
The airline says customers who experience flight cancellations will be notified and are eligible for a full refund. Flyers without confirmed flights “should not go to the airport,” Air Canada said.
In its notice to strike, CUPE said Air Canada “ceased to engage in meaningful dialogue” which it said left the union no choice but to strike, acknowledging the impact this move will have on the “long-anticipated vacations of the public.”
“We do not take this lightly,” it said.
CUPE and Air Canada had been in negotiations for eight months, even at one point bringing in federal conciliators to help with negotiations. On Monday, the airline tabled a revised proposal to CUPE which it said “sought no concessions in return from its Flight Attendants” and included a 38% total compensation increase over four years. It said it had offered the union to enter “third-party, binding arbitration” in order to finalize any outstanding issues.
CUPE said Air Canada “refus[ed] to address critical issues,” including unpaid labor and wages.
“We stand firmly behind our proposals and our vision for a better future at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, one that restores the integrity of the profession and reaffirms the value of a career in aviation,” CUPE said in its notice to strike.
“We have requested government-directed arbitration as we now view it as the only certain avenue to bring closure to bargaining and mitigate the impact on travellers, business and the Canadian economy,” Rousseau said.