Air Canada pushing for government intervention as clock ticks on labour talks

Air Canada and business leaders are asking Ottawa to be ready to intervene in labour talks with its pilots as time is running out before a potential shutdown, but so far the government has said the two sides need to work things out. 

Airline spokesman Christophe Hennebelle said Thursday that Air Canada is committed to negotiations, but it faces wage demands from the Air Line Pilots Association that it can’t meet. 

“The issue is that we are faced with unreasonable wage demands that ALPA refuses to moderate.”

The union has said it’s corporate greed that’s holding up talks, as Air Canada continues to post record profits while expecting pilots to accept below-market compensation.

Hennebelle said the airline isn’t asking for immediate intervention from the government, but that it should be prepared to help avoid major disruptions from a shutdown of an airline that carries more than 110,000 passengers a day.

“The government should be ready to step in and make sure that we are not entering into that disruption for the benefit of Canadians.”

The two sides will be in a position starting Sunday to issue 72-hour notice of a strike or lockout. The airline has said the notice would trigger its three-day wind down plan and start the clock on a full work stoppage as early as Sept. 18.

Numerous business groups convened in Ottawa on Thursday to also call for action — including binding arbitration — to avoid the economic disruptions a shutdown of the airline would cause. 

Arbitration “can help bring the parties to a successful resolution and avoid all the potential impacts we’re here to talk about today,” Candace Laing, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, told a news conference.

“Canada cannot afford another major disruption to its transportation network. A labour disruption at Air Canada would ripple through our economy,” Goldy Hyder, chief executive of the Business Council of Canada, said in a statement.

The federal government however has said it’s up to the airline and union to make a deal.

“There’s no reason for these parties not to be able to achieve a collective agreement,” Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said at a news conference Wednesday night after the Liberal caucus retreat.

He said the government sees forward momentum in talks and that Canadians expect both the union and airline to make the necessary compromises.

“These parties should be under no ambiguity as to what my message is to them today. Knuckle down, get a deal.”

Asked why the airline would not just hold back and wait for the government to intervene as it did in the twin railway shutdowns in August, MacKinnon indicated it wasn’t so simple. 

“What I would say are there are significant differences between those two situations and leave it at that.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Thursday morning the party would not support efforts to force pilots back to work.

“We’re going to send a clear message again that we are opposed to Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, or any government, interfering with workers,” Singh said. “If there’s any bills being proposed on back to work legislation, we’re going to oppose that.”

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday that Air Canada should negotiate in good faith with its pilots. 

“We’re not going to support pre-empting those negotiations. We stand with the pilots and their right to fight for a fair deal, good wages.”

With files from The Canadian Press’ Jim Bronskill