Thousands of Air Canada pilots say they are willing to walk off the job to get a new agreement.
Pilots voted 98 per cent in favour of job action, according to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).
“Our goal is to avoid a strike, and our focus remains on modernizing our contract for Air Canada pilots,” First Officer Charlene Hudy, chair of the Air Canada ALPA Master Executive Council, said in a news release.
“However, management continues to force us closer to a strike position by not listening to our needs at the negotiating table regarding fair compensation, respectable retirement benefits, and quality-of-life improvements.”
The more than 5,400 Air Canada pilots represented by the association have been without a contract since Sept. 2023.
Negotiations began in June 2023 and talks entered private mediation in January. In June, the union decided to file a notice of dispute and enter conciliation as the two sides could not reach an agreement.
“Air Canada pilots are committed to avoiding a strike and the flight disruptions that would follow, and that’s why we continue to negotiate in good faith,” said Hudy.
If no agreement has been reached by the end of the cooling-off period, Air Canada pilots will be in a legal position to begin job action as early as mid-September.
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