Canadian business organization says Ottawa must avoid transportation disruption
Air Canada and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) reached a tentative agreement on Sunday, avoiding a work stoppage that would have impacted consumers and businesses.
The four year collective agreement between the two organizations avoided a winding down of flights on Sunday as 5,200 Air Canada pilots represented by ALPA faced being locked out or walking off the job.
The prospect of disruption was concerning the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which says small businesses are already reeling from the recent strikes at Canada’s two major railways with further disruption to cargo deliveries.
“A single day of interrupted service could cause weeks of disruptions and inflict major damage to small firms who depend on Air Canada service to connect their goods, customers and employees,” said CFIB president Dan Kelly, before the news of the tentative agreement.
He added that the federal government cannot allow labour disputes to repeatedly paralyze major transportation systems.
Air Canada says terms of the agreement reached over the weekend will remain confidential until it is ratified by ALPA members and approved by the airline’s board. This is expected to be completed in the next month.
However, ALPA said that the agreement, if ratified, will generate an approximate additional $1.9B of value for Air Canada pilots over the course of the agreement.
“After several consecutive weeks of intense round-the-clock negotiations, progress was made on several key issues including compensation, retirement, and work rules,” said First Officer Charlene Hudy, chair of the Air Canada ALPA MEC. This agreement, if ratified by the pilot group, would officially put an end to our outdated and stale decade-old, ten-year framework.”
