Air Canada pilots accept the agreement, thus dispelling the risk of a strike

Air Canada pilots have given the green light to a tentative agreement with the airline, allaying any fears of a future strike.

The International Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) said members voted 67% in favor of ratification.

The agreement grants the carrier’s 5,400 pilots a cumulative salary increase of nearly 42% over four years.

This increase exceeds the significant gains achieved last year by pilots at the three largest US airlines, where pay hikes ranged between 34% and 40%, although they started from a lower base level. pupil.

Despite the sharp increase, the fact that around a third of pilots voted to reject the deal reveals a divide on issues such as work schedules, quality of life and a sizable pay gap between new hires and crew more experienced.

This shows there is room for improvement, said Charlene Hudy, who chairs the union’s Air Canada contingent. There is currently a contingent of my pilots who really disagree with me.

It’s not a perfect matchshe told reporters during a conference call.

Nonetheless, Hudy noted that this is the largest labor contract in the company’s 87-year history, adding $1.9 billion in value to the previous agreement.

We pushed Air Canada as far as we could to get as much value out of it as possibleshe argued.

Roadshows

Air Canada also welcomed the pilots’ approval.

This is a win-win agreement that will see our pilots continue to be the highest paid in Canada and enjoy the improvements they requested in work-life balancesaid President and CEO Michael Rousseau in a statement. Furthermore, the agreement gives our company the flexibility it needs while allowing it to create a framework for its future growth and that of its network.

The agreement in principle, reached in mid-September after more than a year of negotiations, made it possible to avoid a strike which would have led to the cancellation of 670 flights and affected 110,000 passengers per day.

In recent weeks, the union has held road shows about the potential deal to members.

Ms. Hudy warned her colleagues during a virtual town hall last month that she would resign if they chose to reject the deal, raising the stakes as pilots debated whether to accept the pay gains or try to negotiate another deal. The Canadian Press obtained a copy of his statement and confirmed its contents with two pilots.

Greater negotiating power

A global shortage of pilots, a desire to maintain reservations and a warning from the federal government that it would not intervene in the event of a work stoppage have all helped give the union greater bargaining power than that which he had been able to dispose of during negotiations a decade earlier, said Jacques Roy, professor of transport management at the HEC Montreal business school.

Air Canada probably thought it would be better for it to grant the increase and buy some peace of mind, some stability in its operations, even if it means its operating costs will increase.he said.

The previous agreement included salary increases of 2% per year over a 10-year period.

About 99% of eligible pilots voted in the consultation, the union said.

The contract takes effect immediately, is retroactive to September 2023 and will expire on September 29, 2027.

Pilots will benefit from a 26% salary increase for the past fiscal year and increases of 4% in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Under the new and previous agreements, pilots earn significantly less during their first four years with the company before receiving a big pay increase starting in the fifth year.

40% increase in hourly rate

Some employees had lobbied for the complete removal of the so-called fixed rateaccording to which revenues remain stable regardless of the type of aircraft flown. (Typically, salaries increase with the size of the plane.) However, the freshly signed agreement would only reduce the four-year period of lower salary to two years, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by La Presse Canadian.

Even in the third and fourth years, salaries would be significantly lower than in the fifth year. The hourly rate increases by almost 40% in the fifth year, a much greater increase than during any other period, the agreement states.

Assuming pilots work about 75 hours per month – a common industry baseline, new hires will now earn between $75,700 and $134,000, compared to almost $187,000 in the fifth year and more than $367,000 for an experienced captain flying a Boeing 777.

With the recent hires, experts say more than a third of the carrier’s approximately 5,200 active pilots could currently earn entry-level salaries. Many of them are not fresh out of school but come to Air Canada after long careers with other airlines.