Pilots of Canada's biggest airliner stage protests over pay
Pilots of Canada’s biggest airliner have staged a protest in the city of Toronto to demand better pay and benefits as talks over a new contract continues.
North American airlines have been grappling with challenges in recruiting enough trained pilots and crew members in the aftermath of the COVID-19 fallout.
Air Canada's pilots have received a 2% wage increase per year since 2014, but the country's inflation rate was running at 4.3% in March.
The pilots for the Montreal-based carrier, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) union which covers 4,500 pilots, began bargaining for new labor terms this summer.
On Friday, they staged a silent picket at Terminal 1 of the Toronto airport to draw attention to their concerns and to put pressure on the airline to make a fair deal.
Charlene Hudy, who heads its Air Canada contingent, said some co-workers leaving for better pay in the United States, calling the wage gap across the border “unacceptable.”
In late May, the union invoked a clause to end its 10-year collective agreement a year early and launch negotiations for a new one. It served up a bargaining notice to company management two weeks later, the first step toward hashing out a new deal.
The Air Canada talks also play out as airlines face intense domestic and cross-border competition from ultra-low-cost carriers such as Flair Airlines and Lynx Air and as labor shortages continue to plague the sector.
Canada’s Yukon town council at standstill over refusing oath to King Charles
‘Complicit in genocide’: Canada protesters stage sit-in at factory selling weapons to Israel
Iran rejects claims of plot to assassinate ex-Canadian justice minister
US vetoing of Gaza ceasefire resolution ‘disgraceful’: Iran’s UN envoy
VIDEO | IAEA adopts anti-Iran resolution tabled by E3
VIDEO | Iran's president urges Pope to help end Israel's onslaught in Gaza
Iran's senior legal official: ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu ‘great victory'
Nov. 21: ‘Axis of Resistance’ operations against Israeli occupation
VIDEO | Israeli forces storm West Bank’s Jenin again, target civilians
Iran activates advanced centrifuges after IAEA's 'unjust' resolution
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
