The union representing Air Canada’s flight attendants says it has declined a proposal by the airline to resolve negotiations through arbitration.
In an update posted on the bargaining committee’s website, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) wrote that Air Canada had proposed referring the matter to binding interest arbitration, which would bring a third-party mediator into the talks.
CUPE published a letter addressed to the president of its Air Canada component, Wesley Lesosky, and signed by Air Canada vice-president and human resources chief Arielle Meloul-Wechsler on Monday.
The letter outlines the proposal and says that “if we cannot agree on an arbitrator within 30 days of your agreeing to the proposal, we ask the Minister of Labour to name one.”
Air Canada has communicated to the union that the sides are too far apart, according to CUPE.
CBC News has reached out to representatives for CUPE and Air Canada.
CUPE’s Air Canada component represents more than 10,000 flight attendants who work for the major airline and its budget carrier Air Canada Rouge.
Members voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike mandate last week, setting up a potential strike action to begin as soon as 12:01 a.m. ET on Aug. 16. Some held demonstrations outside four major Canadian airports on Monday for what the union called a “day of action.”
The union says the most contentious issues at the bargaining table are wages — which it says have not kept pace with inflation — and unpaid work that occurs before boarding and after deplaning, such as safety checks and assisting passengers.
CUPE said last week that it would continue talks with Air Canada until Aug. 15, the day before a potential strike.
The two parties have been negotiating since March, when the previous 10-year collective agreement expired. But the talks reached an impasse in May, at which point the union filed for conciliation with the federal labour minister.
At the time, Air Canada said that its pay structure is in step with other global carriers. Delta Air Lines is the only major North American airline that offers ground pay to its flight attendants, paying them at half their hourly rate for 40 to 50 minutes of boarding time depending on the flight destination and aircraft.
