According to him, the federal government has an “obligation” to work and “prepare” itself for the possibility of disruption at the negotiating table. Without this, Ottawa is playing “Russian roulette with our economy,” he charges.
“What we are asking the government to be proactive,” explained Karl Blackburn, CEO of the Conseil du patronat du Québec, because “a day of work stoppage in the airline sector is a day too many” , whose “catastrophic. “consequences for citizens, the tourism industry, and supply chains, will require “several days” to resolve.
Along with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Ontario Tourism Industry Association, the two businessmen said they are “hopefully an agreement will be reached” by Sunday. “But if collective bargaining fails, the government has the tools they need and they must prepare now to use them,” said Mr Hyder.
Negotiations in “March”
Starting Sunday, Air Canada pilots or the airline will be able to submit 72 hours’ notice of a strike or lockout if an agreement is not reached between the two parties. That could lead to a complete work stoppage as early as the middle of next week, a scenario Air Canada President and CEO Michael Rousseau called Monday “more likely.”
In a press release, the Montreal-based company announced earlier this week that negotiations with the International Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) were approaching “terrible”. Mr. Rousseau, however, believed that “there is still time to reach an agreement […] si l’ALPA moder[ait] his wage demands, which are far higher than the average wage increase in Canada.
For its part, the union has argued that corporate greed is delaying talks, as Air Canada continues to post higher profits and expects the their pilots to less than that in the market.
In an open letter published on Wednesday and sent to the federal Minister of Transport, several business groups requested that a binding arrangement be established. A route that has so far been rejected by Ottawa, which said it was up to the airline and ALPA to reach an agreement.
The opposition wants to compromise
On Wednesday, Tory leader Pierre Poilievre said “it would be foolish to stop the talks now and we would not support that.” “We support the pilots and their right to ‘strive for good opportunity and good pay.”
On Thursday, the leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, Jagmeet Singh, for his part, announced that the party would not support efforts to force pilots to return to work.
“We are going to send a clear message again: we are against Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, or any other government, to interfere with workers,” said Mr. Singh. “If any bills are proposed regarding return to work legislation, we are going to oppose them. “
— By The Canadian Press
2024-09-12 23:17:56
#Air #Canada #business #community #intervention #Ottawa
