Air Canada may face strike for holiday weekend

Canadians planning on traveling next weekend-which is a civic holiday in all provinces except Quebec, Newfoundland and Nunavut-may find their travel arrangements disrupted by a possible walk-out on the part of disgruntled Air Canada employees. Flight attendants staged protests and rallies earlier today in cities across the country in order to voice their opposition to the carrier’s decision to lay-off hundreds of workers and close flight attendant bases in Halifax and Winnipeg.

According to a report in the Montreal Gazette, an undisclosed number of flight attendants are contemplating a possible strike, independent of their union’s leadership, to coincide with the upcoming long weekend. Katherine Thompson, representing the Air Canada wing of CUPE, a union which brings together public sector workers, told journalists that the organization was not planning on a strike during the long weekend and that it has nothing to do with the planned actions of some flight attendants associated with the country’s flag carrier. Thompson did, however, recognize that some unhappy employees may end up using internet technology to rally support for a strike and to enlist more participants. As the threat of walk-outs loom large, Air Canada is already taking precautions, in order to minimize any disruption during the holiday weekend. This is being mainly done by telling regional managers to have substitutes lined up if a larger than usual number of flight attendants phone in sick later this week.

Air Canada has already confirmed that it will lay off more than 600 workers, but the carrier may ultimately decide to let go of up to 2,000.

Thank you to the Montreal Gazette for the initial report.

www.aircanada.com