Interim agreement ends Air Canada crew strike

Ptrump16, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Air Canada reached a provisional agreement on Tuesday with the CUPE union, which represents approximately 10,400 cabin crew members. This ended the more than 72-hour strike, which led to the cancellation of thousands of flights and affected hundreds of thousands of passengers during peak season.

The company anticipated that operations will resume gradually since Tuesday night, although he warned that it could take seven to ten days to fully restore service.

A key point: payment for work on land

One of the agreement's key achievements was the recognition that crew members should be compensated for work performed on the ground, such as boarding assistance, which until now had been unpaid. The union celebrated this progress, calling it a "transformational" change.

Context

• The strike began on Saturday after negotiations to renew the collective bargaining agreement, in place since 2015, failed.
• The government intervened by ordering compulsory arbitration, and labor authorities declared the strike illegal, but the union disobeyed, worsening the crisis.

Impact on flights and passengers

The conflict affected more than 500,000 passengers and led to the cancellation of at least 2,500 flights, according to airline estimates.

Affected travelers are entitled to full refunds, credits for future flights, or reaccommodations, Air Canada said.

What's next?

The agreement still needs to be voted on by union members. Once ratified, the airline and the union can finalize the details. Meanwhile, the restart of operations will be gradual and will depend on crew redeployment and operational logistics.

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Sources:

• EFE
• Reuters