“We have no intention of doing any job action,” Paul Strachan, president of the Air Canada Pilots Association, said in an interview. “All we have ever wanted is a bargained settlement.”
Strachan called the strike vote “a defensive measure” to put the union on the same legal footing as the company given the legal strike or lockout deadline passed early Tuesday.
Given how far apart the parties are on key issues including wages, pensions and scope rules related to a proposed discount airline, Labour Minister Lisa Raitt took the rare step of appointing new mediators for up to six months.
She named former Quebec judge Louise Otis, who just helped to hammer a deal with Air Canada’s machinists and baggage handlers last week, and Jacques Lessard, acting director-general of the federal mediation and conciliation service to work with the two sides.
Citing the complexity of the contract dispute, which has almost gone on for 18 months, Raitt said it would better to get a negotiated settlement.
Strachan welcomed Raitt’s move, saying it reflects an understanding of the issues, and that “it’s not an agreement you can scratch out on the back of a napkin.
Air Canada said it was business as usual and customers can continue to book flights with confidence.
“We are committed to a negotiated settlement with our pilots and look forward to a final resolution to these long-standing negotiations,” Duncan Dee, executive vice-president and chief operating officer, said in a news release
The union can call a strike or management can lock out employees if they give the required 72 hours’ notice, but it seems unlikely given that both parties have insisted they do not want any disruption.
“I’m definitely relying upon the good faith of both parties when they tell me they want to do a deal,” Raitt told CTV News, noting Air Canada just settled with three other unions over the weekend, so “they are on a roll.”
Because Raitt has intervened in previous contract disputes with Air Canada, the pilots have been worried that the dispute would be sent off to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for consideration, as Raitt did in the case of flight attendants last fall.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Vanessa Lu
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