Pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association at Air Canada are demanding that the airline pay them the same kind of substantial wages that their peers at the likes of American Airlines and Delta earn south of the border in the United States.
At present, the union claims its members at Air Canada are earning half of what pilots at big U.S. airlines are earning while flying the same routes on the same planes and carrying the same passengers.
Air Canada has been in contract negotiations with its pilots for more than 12 months, and although progress has been made in a number of areas, the two sides remain far apart on how much pilots should be paid.
“Management’s proposals continue to fall substantially short of the contract metrics recently ratified at comparative airlines, like United, Delta, and American,” slammed First Officer Charlene Hudy, the chair of Air Canada’s ALPA Master Executive Council on Monday.
Hudy claims pilots were willing to make huge sacrifices in the wake of 9/11 to ensure the future of Air Canada, but now that the airline is on a secure financial footing, they argue they deserve a big pay bump.
Back in January, the union and Air Canada entered into a mediation process in an attempt to break the deadlock, but that came to an end at the start of June with little progress made on pay.
Now, the union has filed for federal conciliation – an important step towards pilots being able to go on strike if a deal can’t be struck.
The Canadian government has just 15 days to appoint a conciliator, and then a 60-day conciliation process will begin. If a contract can’t be agreed at the end of this process, then the government would declare an impasse, and a 21-day cooling-off period would begin.
At the end of the cooling-off period, pilots would be allowed to engage in self-help, such as going on strike.
“Although we want to avoid strike action, we will do what is necessary under the Canada Labour Code to ensure we achieve the contract we deserve,” Hudy continued.
She continued: “Currently, Air Canada pilots are paid approximately half what other legacy airline pilots are paid in North America, and have the worst working conditions in this category,
