Strike Action Averted at Air Canada

 953

October 12, 2011 –Air Canada and CUPE have received notice that the Minister of Labour, the Hon. Lisa Raitt, has asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), under Section 87.4 of the Canada Labour Code, to determine the rights and obligations of the employer, the union and the employees to continue the supply of services in the event of a strike. As a result of this CIRB referral, CUPE cannot commence a legal strike at least until this matter has been decided by the CIRB. The strike deadline originally scheduled for 00:01 am ET on Thursday, October 13, 2011 is effectively cancelled.

In addition, as a result of the rejection by the CUPE membership of two collective agreements, the Minister of Labour is asking the CIRB to determine if conditions unfavourable to a settlement exist and if so, to either impose a new collective agreement or a binding method of resolving the dispute.

We accordingly expect that this process will lead to a definitive resolution for our customers.

In the meantime, it remains business as usual at Air Canada and all flights will continue to operate as scheduled.

We thank you for your patience and loyalty during this time.

We also encourage you to:

• Check the status of your flight using our online flight status tool prior to going to the airport.
• Use our Self Service Rebooking Tool*  to avoid longer call centre wait times due to a higher volume of calls than usual.

Air Canada will continue to provide updates as developments warrant.

CUPE represents approximately 6,800 flight attendants employed by Air Canada.

For more information and the most recent updates, please consult aircanada.com. You can also follow @AirCanada on Twitter and Facebook.