An initial agreement has been reached in the divisive contract dispute between Air Canada and its flight attendants.
After nine hours of talks, a tentative deal was reached with the union CUPE.
This will go to workers to ratify it.
It addresses one of the key issues in the dispute – guaranteeing ground pay for flight attendants.
“Unpaid work is over. We have reclaimed our voice and our power,” the union said.
This is in fact an issue at many airlines in Canada.
With a deal close, CUPE urged its members to ‘fully co-operate with resumption of operations.’
However, it could still be days before Air Canada gets its full schedule back to normal.
Air Canada’s EVP Mark Nasr said: “Ground pay absolutely should be in there, and we’re so happy that we finally reached this industry-leading deal that allows our flight attendants to be compensated for the important work performed on the ground.”
“We are profoundly sorry for the impact that this disruption has had on all of our customers,” Nasr added.
“We are committed to doing what’s right and taking care of our customers and getting them on their way.”
CEO Michael Rousseau said the full restoration of services ‘may require a week or more.’
At the end of Monday, the airline estimated about 500,000 customers had been disrupted by the strike.
