An tentative agreement has been reached to end the contract dispute between Air Canada and its hostesses, both the airline and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said on early Tuesday.
CUPE, which represents more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendees, said that after nine hours of conversations with the assistance of the chief mediator designated by the federal government, the agreement reached will be presented to its membership, which will have the opportunity to ratify it.
Among the conflict points for the union was the issue of payment for the work done while the aircraft are on the ground. While it does not explain the issue, the union said in a statement provided to CBC News that “unpaid work is over.”
Cupe advised its members to “cooperate completely with the resumption of operations.”
Some cancellations are expected in the next few days
Air Canada also confirmed the tentative agreement in a statement and said the flights would gradually return from Tuesday night.
Michael Rousseau, president and executive director of the airline, advised customers to be patients as a complete restoration of the service “may require a week or more,” but said that “everyone on Air Canada is doing everything possible to allow them to travel soon.”
“The suspension of our service is extremely difficult for our clients. We regret deeply and apologize for the impact of this work interruption,” Rousseau said in the statement.
With the strike of Air Canada Auxiliary in progress, passengers say they are frustrated by the high cost of reserving alternative arrangements.
During the transition to the total service resumption, the airline expected some flights to be canceled. Rousseau said the airline would offer options to customers in such a stage, including a complete refund, a loan for future trips and, if space is allowed, reserve again in other airlines.
Pearson’s airport, near Toronto, advised passengers to verify the status of their flight in the next few days before traveling to terminals, and said that it has deployed additional personnel in the terminals and luggage areas to help passengers and support starting operations.
Air Canada operates around 700 flights daily. The airline had estimated on Monday that 500,000 clients would be affected by flight cancellations.
The Aviation Analysis firm Cirium said that until Monday afternoon, Air Canada had canceled at least 1,219 national flights and 1,339 international flights since last Thursday, when the carrier began to gradually suspend its operations before the strike and closure.
Binding arbitration had been rejected
The strike began early on Saturday, but only a few hours later, the Federal Government invoked a section in the Canadian Labor Code to order binding arbitration through the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB).
CUPE rejected that procedural step by the Minister of Jobs Patty Hajdu and accused Air Canada of anticipating such intervention and not negotiating in good faith.
CIRB characterized the challenge of the union of the order to return to work during the weekend as “illegal.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday that he had disappointed by the dead point, but it was important that flight attendees were “compensated equally at all times.”
The Minister of Jobs, Patty Hajdu, joins Power & Politics, defending her decision to invoke section 107 of the Canadian Labor Code to order the Air Canada flight attendees to work. She says that ‘it was clear’ the airline and the union ‘needed another tool’ to continue the negotiations after the union declared on strike.
The union fulfilled the required notice of 72 hours of its intention to strike last Wednesday, after the negotiations for the collective bargaining agreement that expired on March 31 had not led to a new pact. It was the first labor action of Air Canada’s flight attendees since the 1980s.
The union and the airline agreed to the mediator, William Kaplan, who previously helped in Canada’s labor negotiations.
