Air Canada has accused flight attendants who are preparing to start a crippling strike on Saturday of refusing to help repatriate 25,000 Canadians back home on planes that will otherwise be stranded overseas when the walkout begins on August 16.
The embattled carrier has already begun cancelling some flights in the run-up to the start of the strike, with a complete shutdown of the airline expected to start on Saturday – that is, however, with the exception of international return flights to Canada.
What we have seen at other airlines that have experienced widespread strike action involving aircrew is that flight attendants or pilots aren’t considered to be on strike until they have returned to their home base.
That is exactly what Air Canada thought would happen in the case of this strike but there has been disagreement over the terms and conditions that flight attendants would be working under on these repatriation flights.
The CUPE union, which represents more than 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada and its leisure subsidiary Air Canada Rouge, wanted the terms and conditions in the existing contract to apply, but has accused the airline of wanting to amend some of those conditions for the purposes of these flights.
Just like the main negotiations over a new contract, the two sides have reached an impasse, and, as a result, Air Canada has accused the union of rejecting an agreement “to fly Canadians home.”
As a result, the airline claims 25,000 additional Canadians will now be stranded overseas when the strike begins.
That also means that any flight attendants who begin international trips just before the strike gets underway will be stranded abroad until the airline restarts operations. Air Canada has, however, promised to pay for their hotels and expenses during this time.
Of course, this strike, if it goes ahead, is going to be incredibly expensive for Air Canada, but the airline was no doubt hoping to save a little bit of money by bringing all of its aircraft back to Canada before the stoppage began.
Parking fees at foreign airports can be wildly expensive and will quickly mount up if Air Canada is forced to keep long-haul aircraft grounded in cities around the world.
