Air Canada suspends operations as flight attendants go on strike

TORONTO -- Air Canada suspended operations as more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants went on strike early Saturday after a deadline to reach a deal passed, leaving travelers around the world stranded and scrambling during the peak summer travel season.

Canadian Union of Public Employees spokesman Hugh Pouliot confirmed the strike had started after no deal was reached, and the airline said shortly after that it would halt operations.

A bitter contract fight between Canada’s largest airline and the union representing 10,000 of its flight attendants escalated Friday as the union turned down the airline’s request to enter into government-directed arbitration, which would eliminate its right to strike and allow a third-party mediator to decide the terms of a new contract.

Flight attendants walked off the job around 1 a.m. EDT on Saturday. Around the same time, Air Canada said it would begin locking flight attendants out of airports.

Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu met with both the airline and union on Friday night and urged them to work harder to reach a deal “once and for all."

“It is unacceptable that such little progress has been made. Canadians are counting on both parties to put forward their best efforts,” Hajdu said in a statement posted on social media.

Pouliot, the spokesman for the union, said the union had a meeting with Hajdu and representatives from Air Canada earlier Friday evening.

The federal government forced the country’s two major railroads into arbitration with their labor union last year during a work stoppage. The union that represents rail workers is suing, arguing the government is removing a union’s leverage in negotiations.

The Business Council of Canada has urged the government to impose binding arbitration in this case, too.

“At a time when Canada is dealing with unprecedented pressures on our critical economic supply chains, the disruption of national air passenger travel and cargo transport services would cause immediate and extensive harm to all Canadians,” chief executive Goldy Hyder said in a statement.

A complete shutdown will impact about 130,000 people a day, and some 25,000 Canadians may be stranded abroad daily. Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day.

Canada is the second-largest country in the world and flying is often the only viable option.

Montreal resident Alex Laroche, 21, and his girlfriend had been saving since Christmas for their European vacation. Now their $8,000 trip with nonrefundable lodging is on the line as they wait to hear from Air Canada about the fate of their Saturday night flight to Nice, France.

How long the airline’s planes will be grounded remains to be seen, but Air Canada Chief Operating Officer Mark Nasr has said it could take up to a week to fully restart operations once a tentative deal is reached.

Passengers whose travel is impacted will be eligible to request a full refund on the airline’s website or mobile app, according to Air Canada.

The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible. But it warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because flights on other airlines are already full “due to the summer travel peak.”

Laroche said he considered booking new flights with a different carrier, but he said most of them are nearly full and cost more than double the $3,000 they paid for their original tickets.

“At this point, it’s just a waiting game,” he said.

Laroche said he was initially upset over the union’s decision to go on strike, but that he had a change of heart after reading about the key issues at the center of the contract negotiations, including the issue of wages.

“Their wage is barely livable,” Laroche said.

Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees have been in contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal.

Both sides say they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes aren’t in the air.

The airline’s latest offer included a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions over four years, that it said “would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada.”

But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8% raise in the first year didn’t go far enough because of inflation. ___

Airlines reporter Rio Yamat reported from Las Vegas.