Air Canada labour disruption starts to impact Calgary passengers

Calgary's airport is starting to feel the crunch of the labour dispute between Air Canada and its flight attendants.

The labour dispute between the union representing Air Canada flight attendants and its airline employer is starting to affect travellers at Calgary International Airport.

As of Friday afternoon, most Air Canada domestic flights had taken off and landed smoothly, but flights will begin to be cancelled on Saturday.

Some passengers decided to depart a day early to avoid any headaches.

“We were supposed to fly home tomorrow, so just to avoid any delays or complications, we rebooked to today just to be safe,” said Julie Mills, heading home to Hamilton, Ont.

Mills says she supports the flight attendants in the labour dispute, despite the impact on Canadian travellers and workers.

“I (100) per cent agree that any other job, as soon as you are expected to be on duty, you start getting paid, and I think that’s the biggest sticking point—that from what I understand, they don’t get paid until they’re in the air,” she said.

Nicola Hanney-Webster also sides with flight attendants.

“I absolutely support the flight attendants because I’m a former flight attendant with WestJet, so I agree 100 per cent,” she said.

From her previous experience, she understands flight attendants are compensated at a higher rate for flying time to balance unpaid duties like gate and check-in assistance.

“If there’s a lot of time, a lot of extra time they’re working unpaid, then yes, something needs to change; at least get a portion of the hourly wage for those hours they are not in air,” she said.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) aviation division is calling for wage increases and changes to the compensation structure to include other work-related duties not limited to flight.

It has rejected binding arbitration and has asked federal Employment Minister Patty Hajdu not to intervene and to allow negotiations to resume at the bargaining table.

However, Calgary-based WestJet says it is bracing to accommodate an influx of passengers if an agreement can’t be reached before the strike scheduled for Saturday.

In a statement to CTV News, WestJet said: “WestJet is positioning larger aircraft onto key routes and working with our airport partners, pilots and cabin crew to add a limited number of extra flights to help accommodate guests where we are able. WestJet also remains committed to keeping travel as affordable as possible through this period of escalated demand.”

CUPE commissioned a survey completed by Abacus Data that found a majority of Canadians sympathize with flight attendants at 59 per cent, while just 12 per cent of those surveyed sympathized with the company.

Nearly nine in 10 Canadians (88 per cent) believe flight attendants should be paid for all work-related duties, not just time in motion.

The survey was conducted with a random sample of 1,500 Canadian adults from 12 p.m. ET on Thursday until 10 a.m. ET on Friday.

The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/- 3.3 per cent, 19 times out of 20.