Air Canada pilots set to announce results of vote on contract offer

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Air Canada's pilots ratified a new four-year contract on Tuesday (Oct. 10). Click here for details. 

The results of a vote on whether to ratify a rich contract offer for Air Canada’s pilots will be announced today (Oct. 10).

Last month, Air Canada reached a tentative, four-year collective agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), averting a strike that would have led to 600 flights a day being cancelled, affecting more than 100,000 passengers a day.

The new four-year deal, announced Sept. 15, would see pilots get raises of almost 40 per cent, as previously reported.

It includes a 26 per cent boost in the first year, followed by increases of four per cent in each following year. The initial 26 per cent increase is also retroactive to last year.

But the deal still includes a pay gap between new pilots and their more experienced peers, with first-year pilots making as little as $75,700, while experienced pilots on wide-body planes can earn as much as $367,000.

This disparity could make or break the vote. Voting by some 5,300 members of the ALPA closes at 10 a.m. today, and the results are expected to be made public within a few hours.

If the deal is rejected, Charlene Hudy, head of ALPA’s Air Canada bargaining unit, has said she would step down from her role.

It’s uncertain what would happen in the aftermath of a rejection. If the union decides to strike, it would have to give 72-hours notice. Air Canada would have to do the same if it decides to lock its pilots out.

The ALPA had been pushing to narrow the pay gap with pilots at other Canadian and U.S. airlines, as well as change schedules so that pilots could make more and spend more time at home.

The tentative agreement replaces one reached 10 years ago that provided raises of two per cent annually.

Don't miss a single travel story: subscribe to PAX today!  Click here to follow PAX on Facebook.