On Sept. 9, Air Canada announced they were preparing for a potential shutdown beginning on Sept. 15, unless a deal with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) was reached. Customers and business owners voiced their concerns over the potential repercussions this would bring. However, on Sept. 15, the strike was successfully averted by achieving a last-minute tentative agreement with the ALPA.
People took a stand on social media, urging Air Canada to meet the union’s demands and “just pay the pilots.” After over a year of negotiations and the dodging of a pilot strike that loomed over Air Canada dangerously close to its deadline, the dispute has come to a tentative conclusion.
ALPA officially posted on Sunday, Sept. 15, that they reached a preliminary deal on a new four-year contract and effectively averted the strike. The new contract aims to raise wages, improve work rules, and provide retirement benefits. “This agreement, if ratified by the pilot group, would officially put an end to our outdated and stale decade-old, ten-year framework,” said Charlene Hudy, chair of the Air Canada contingent of the ALPA.
The Air Canada Master Executive Council (MEC) of the ALPA, which represents more than 5,400 Air Canada pilots, shared on their web page that if this agreement succeeds, it will “generate an approximate additional $1.9B of value for Air Canada pilots” over a four year period.
This agreement still needs to be ratified by the union members and simultaneously approved by Air Canada’s board of directors. “Terms of the new agreement will remain confidential pending a ratification vote by the membership, expected to be completed over the next month, and approval by the Air Canada Board of Directors,” was stated in Air Canada’s Sept. 15 news release.
With this crisis prevented for the time being, the passengers who rebooked their flights have a chance to get their original bookings back. Air Canada wrote in their news release that “customers who used the airline’s labour disruption goodwill policy to change their flights originally scheduled from between Sept. 15 – 23, 2024, to another date before Nov. 30, 2024, can change their booking back to their original flight in the same cabin at no cost, providing there is space available.” As of now, they are also promoting a twenty-five per cent discount on specific base fares on their web page.
So far, there is no news on the voting status, but according to The Canadian Press, on Sept. 20, Hudy shared with her employees that she “will have no choice but to resign” in case the agreement falls through. “If the membership votes no to this [tentative agreement], it would clearly indicate to the public, media, government, and company that I no longer speak on your behalf,” Hudy explained at a virtual town hall meeting as the union ratification process continues.
