Transat AT Flight Dispatchers Vote 100% for Strike Mandate – Latest Labor Dispute at Airline

Another labor dispute threatens to disrupt operations at airline Transat AT Flight Dispatchers have voted 100% for a strike mandate.

The Canadian Aviation Distributors Association (CALDA), which represents 28 employees at the Montreal company, made the announcement in a press release Tuesday.

The union says it is “distressed” after the failure of settlement talks that ended on April 2. The mandatory 21-day reflection period ended on April 23.

CALDA President Rob King said aircraft distributors are now in a position to strike. The press release does not specify a time when the walkout may occur, or the duration of this pressure method.

“No Air Transat flight can take off without permission from the flight dispatcher,” warns the union in a press release.

At both Transat and the union, it is said that there is no immediate strike plan at the moment, in separate emails.

“At this time, there is no immediate timetable for the strike,” Mr. King said in an email. We hope, as happened from the first day of negotiations, that we will reach an agreement at the table. CALDA remains committed to reaching an agreement through negotiation. »

A strike vote does not “mean” it will be called, Transat nuance. “This is a tool that is provided for in the Canada Labor Code and is expected in the context of these negotiations,” said company spokesman Andréan Gagné. The strike or lockout is not in the objectives of these discussions.

The employer believes the union’s demands are “unreasonable”. “Not only because of the financial context in which Transat finds itself, but especially because our aircraft distributors are already the best paid in the industry. »

Transat says it presented an “unprecedented final and comprehensive offer” to the union on April 25, “including a significant wage increase over three years, retroactive to 31 October 2022 the joint collection on other topics such as leave and holidays,” defends the company.

The employer claims that the union executive chose not to present the offer to members, a decision the company regrets.

On the part of the union, we believe that the proposal does not reflect the position of aircraft distributors regarding their duties, obligations and accountability in the context of their work.

Previous conflicts hurt

The strike vote comes just a few months later flight attendant strike threat ate into Transat’s profits over the holidays and in January. Fears of labor disputes could be putting travelers off again.

The president and CEO of Transat, Annick Guérard, recognized that the conflict existed impact on profitability. “There was a clear correlation to our doubts, unfortunately,” she admitted when she published the latest quarterly results in March.

“We’ve seen a clear decline in our reservations at different times,” she said. First, after the strike mandate vote in November. After that, we saw a significant increase in reservations after we had the to sign two agreements in principle. We saw a major slowdown after the agreement was rejected in principle.

Transat shares lost 3 cents, or 0.8 2%, to $3.62 at the opening of the session on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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