The Canadian flag carrier's pilots could go on strike as early as September 17.
An Air Canada A330 (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
Pilots at Canada’s largest airline could walk off the job next month, after overwhelmingly voting in favor of giving their union a strike mandate. According to the union, the strike vote passed with 98 percent support earlier this week.
Negotiations between Air Canada and The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) – which represents the company’s 5,400-plus pilots – began in June of 2023. Although the airline has stated that the parties have reached agreements on many issues, the union cites compensation, retirement benefits and quality-of-life improvements as points of contention.
Air Canada pilots currently work under the provisions of a 2014 collective agreement. Charlene Hudy, chair of ALPA’s Air Canada unit, told The Canadian Press that the contract is “stale” and “outdated,” adding that there are elements of the current agreement that stem back to the period following the company’s 2003 bankruptcy. That contract expired in September of 2023.
Canada’s aviation industry is federally regulated, meaning that the labor dispute process is governed by federal legislation and regulations.
After six months of talks between Air Canada and ALPA, the parties entered private mediation in January of 2024. In June, the union filed a notice of dispute and enter conciliation, citing an inability to reach a new collective agreement with the employer.
This set off a 60-day conciliation period, which will expire on Monday. Canadian law then mandates a 21-day cooling-off period before any strike or lockout action can occur. A 72-hour notice must also be given by the applicable party. ALPA’s pilots will therefore be in a position to go on strike as early as September 17.
Under this same process, WestJet’s mechanics came within days of a lockout in May and a strike in June before the parties reached last-minute agreements to return to the bargaining table. Pilots at the company’s regional subsidiary – WestJet Encore – also voted in favor of a strike mandate earlier this year, but the parties averted any labor action and ratified a new collective agreement in June.
In a similar labor relations standoff involving railway companies Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), this week the Canadian Government has intervened to force binding arbitration on the two parties effectively trying to prevent possible strikes and lockouts that could disrupt supply chains across North America.
A similar resolution would be possible also for Air Canada.
Air Canada pilots at an informational picket in downtown Toronto in May of 2024 (Photo: Air Line Pilots Association)
Pilot unions in Canada have been closely watching the record-breaking contracts obtained by their counterparts south of the border. Major airlines in the United States like American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Southwest Airlines have all reached agreements with their pilots over the past few years that include pay raises of up to 50 percent. With these new contracts, pilots in the U.S. can make twice as much as their Canadian colleagues.
Air Canada pilots have pointed to pay increases at United Airlines in particular as justification for improved compensation. “We all fly passengers under the Star Alliance. So we’re flying the same passengers in the same airspace on some of the very same routes, and those pilots are being compensated dramatically more than us,” Hudy told The Canadian Press. United pilots ratified a new collective agreement in September of 2023 that will see pay raises of up to 40 percent over four years.
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