MONTREAL – The union representing Air Canada pilots says the airline is attempting to intimidate its members by filing a notice of dispute with the federal government in order to kick-start labour negotiations.

“It’s typical Air Canada bargaining tactics. It’s meant to escalate things. Frankly it’s meant to intimidate,” Paul Strachan, president of the Air Canada Pilots Association, said in an interview Thursday.

The carrier’s 2,900 pilots rejected a tentative agreement by a two-to-one margin in May.

Air Canada has been at odds with several of its main unions during recent negotiations and labour leaders have criticized the federal government of siding with the company.

The Canadian Auto Workers union reached a settlement in the summer for striking Air Canada customer service representatives under threat of being legislated back to work.

The flight attendants union reached two tentative settlements, both rejected by the membership, but they were prevented launching a strike when Labour Minister Lisa Raitt referred the matter to the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

The pilots association has been working over the past six months to prepare proposals that could be the basis for a new negotiated settlement.

Faced with internal political turmoil, it needed the time to replace its executive chairman, reorganize its bargaining team and survey members about what they want in a new deal.

Strachan said the airline accused CUPE-represented flight attendants of not knowing what its members wanted when it rejected a second tentative agreement. Yet it’s rushing pilots to negotiate without having completed that internal review.

“We want to make sure we do it right this time. The last thing we want is another failed ratification vote,” Strachan said.

Last week, the pilots proposed resuming talks in late November, but the Montreal-based carrier caught the ACPA off guard by filing the notice Wednesday.

The carrier said it acted to accelerate a second round of talks with pilots to achieve a negotiated settlement.

“The company is of the view that the involvement of a federally appointed conciliator would facilitate and expedite this second round of negotiation and bring it to a successful conclusion as soon as possible,” said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick.

But Strachan said it’s not helpful for either side to “bargain with the clock ticking in the background.”

“Now we’ll have to tighten it up and this is where balls get dropped when you start rushing things.”

Air Canada’s (TSX:AC.B) move starts the clock ticking to a potential strike, even though the federal government has threatened to intervene with other employee groups at the airline.

The conciliation process lasts up to 60 days unless extended. The parties have the right to strike or lockout 21 days after conciliation ends and must give 72 hours advance notice.

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CTVNews.ca Staff

Air Canada is seeking financial compensation from the union representing its 6,800 flight attendants, amid an allegation that union brass have been negotiating in bad faith.

The airline said Thursday afternoon that the Canadian Union of Public Employees hasn’t done enough to ensure that a new contract is ratified by union members, who have been in a long-running dispute with Canada’s largest air carrier.

“Though the company was given assurances of unanimous support from the CUPE leadership for the first tentative agreement, individual base presidents remained silent or expressed views against ratification during the ratification process,” Air Canada stated.

The airline, which has submitted the unfair practice complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, did not say how much it was seeking in compensation.

The salvo is the latest in a bitter labour battle that has pitted the airline against its employees, with the federal government wading in with a controversial decision to quash a potential strike this week.

In response to Ottawa’s intervention, flight attendants staged a noisy protest at the Toronto-area office of Labour Minister Lisa Raitt Thursday, decrying her decision to bar workers from striking.

In a symbolic show of defiance, the protesters at Raitt’s Milton constituency office shouted slogans like “negotiate, don’t legislate,” and held banners carrying messages such as “R.I.P. Labour Rights.”

Flight attendants were due to strike on Thursday morning, after they rejected a deal that union negotiators had brought to them to ratify. It was the second time a deal was rejected.

But before they could walk off the job, Raitt submitted two referrals to the CIRB that suspended the flight attendants’ right to strike.

Raitt’s two referrals ask the board to determine if flight attendants provide essential services, and to consider whether it should impose a settlement or send the dispute to binding arbitration.

Sid Ryan, head of the Ontario Labour Federation, rallied the striking workers at Raitt’s Milton office and said that flight attendants have already made concessions to the airline.

Ryan, an ex-leader of CUPE, pointed to a 20-per-cent wage cut that flight attendants took in 2004.

“The labour movement is always accused, that somehow, the leadership are leading the membership around by the nose,” Ryan said through a megaphone.

“And in this case you’ve proven twice that it’s the membership that are in control, it’s the membership that makes the decisions,” he said, adding that each flight attendant has given back about $8,000 in wages through a series of rollbacks.

Raitt was not at her constituency office, which is about 50 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

Elsewhere, the union representing Air Canada’s 6,800 flight attendants also called for a Thursday demonstration at the Montreal airport, just hours after its members were supposed to be forming a picket line at the very same location.

In advance of Thursday’s planned demonstrations, Air Canada said it was “business as usual” for the airline, as flights were taking off as scheduled.

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The clock is ticking towards Air Canada’s second strike this year and potentially the big carrier’s most costly labour dispute in 13 years.

Negotiators for the airline and the union representing flight attendants have been meeting since Sept. 1 trying to hammer out a second contract that can win member approval.

Flight attendants overwhelmingly voted to give their union a strike mandate, less than a month after they rejected a previous tentative agreement.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees gave strike notice Friday night meaning the flight attendants will legally be able to walk off the job as early as Wednesday.

Hanging over the heads of the two sides is believed to be a government threat to quickly order an end to a strike that could threaten the country’s weakened economic recovery.

Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt has invited both sides to a meeting if they can’t hammer out a deal this weekend.

“If there is no progress after this weekend, I intend on meeting with both parties face-to-face Monday in Ottawa,” Ms. Raitt said in an email.

“I had a conference call with parties Wednesday evening. My message was that we want them to get a deal that can be ratified by membership. And if they can’t get a deal then I asked them to find a process to get them to a deal.

“Both parties understand the effect that a work stoppage has on the economy and will work hard to get a deal.”

A three-day strike in June by Air Canada customer service agents ended after they reached a deal once the government tabled back-to-work legislation.

The precedent created by the government appears to have reduced the anxiety of some passengers planning last-minute trips next week.

Rivals such as WestJet Airlines and Porter Airlines say they have not seen any substantial increase in bookings as Air Canada customers seek alternative transportation.

“We do have the ability to add some capacity (extra flights) if it becomes necessary… but so far, we haven’t seen any increase in calls or bookings as a result of this situation,” said Robert Palmer, spokesman for the Calgary-based airline.

Brad Cicero of Porter Airlines added that there is “currently no change in the booking pattern.”

Business passengers have greater flexibility to change flights if there is a strike. But leisure travellers with firm bookings in the coming days may be concerned about plans being disrupted, said Robert Kokonis, president of airline consulting firm AirTrav Inc.

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Air Canada flight attendants are asking for a federal conciliator to assist in negotiations with the airline. The Air Canada Component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, on behalf of its over 6,800 flight attendant members at the airline, filed its request with the Federal Mediations and Conciliation Services after reaching an impasse on several key issues with the airlines management.

“The union’s proposals have been fair, but Air Canada seems intent on pushing for unreasonable concessions from its flight attendants,” said Jeff Taylor, president of the AC Component of CUPE. “We are left with no choice but to ask for a conciliator’s assistance in the hopes they will help us and Air Canada find some common ground.”

The collective agreement between the flight attendants and Air Canada expired last March. Negotiations for a new contract have been underway since April 6, and all proposals from both parties have been presented.

The union proposals included fair wage increases and much needed improvements in working conditions. Air Canada is demanding several concessions which would increase workloads, reduce health benefits, and make drastic changes to the pension plan.

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Contract talks between Air Canada and the union representing the airline’s customer service agents begin in Toronto this week, and the union plans to shine the spotlight on wage increases, sick time and shift scheduling.

“The key priority is wages for sure,” said Leslie Dias, the national staff representative for the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union. “Essentially, it’s also time-off issues. It’s vacation.”

The opening round of talks, which will include CAW president Ken Lewenza, start on Friday. The current contract expires Feb. 28.

Employees have made “tremendous sacrifices” in order to help the airline become profitable again, the union said in a newsletter to its members.

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A labour dispute involving the refuelling supervisors and administrative staff at Vancouver International Airport delayed some flights Monday, a union representative said.

“We counted between 30 and 40 delays,” said Stephen Dunsmore, regional vice-president of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees, such as five Air Canada flights and five Air Canada Jazz flights.

Dunsmore said the delays were not caused by pickets, but were related to refuelling.

GlobeGround Fuel Services, also know as Servisair, has been in talks since last fall with the union that represents the workers who oversee the refuelling of all airlines that operate out of YVR.

The two sides have been working with a federal conciliator since March.

The Paris-based company brought in replacement workers yesterday after locking out 21 of its employees.

Both sides met Sunday evening at the bargaining table, he said, but the GlobeGround representatives walked away before much progress could be made.

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