By Allison Lampert
MONTREAL (Reuters) -Air Canada and its unionized flight attendants remained at odds on Friday, despite government pleas for both sides to return to bargaining to avert a strike that would upend travel for tens of thousands of passengers.
Canada’s largest carrier has said it expects to cancel 500 flights by the end of the day, ahead of the planned Saturday strike, leaving some 100,000 passengers scrambling for alternatives.
Flightradar data showed Air Canada had cancelled 27 flights as of 10 p.m. EDT on Thursday (0200 GMT on Friday).
The carrier’s 10,000 flight attendants are gearing up to strike just before 1 a.m. EDT on Saturday over stalled contract talks on union demands for higher wages and compensation for unpaid work.
A strike would hit Canada’s tourism sector during the height of the summer travel season and test the ruling Liberal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney, which has been asked by the carrier to intervene and impose arbitration.
Air Canada and its low-cost affiliate Air Canada Rouge normally carry about 130,000 customers a day. Air Canada is also the non-U.S. carrier with the largest number of flights to the U.S., despite recent cutbacks in travel there from Canada due to trade tensions.
Air Canada, which has also given notice that it will lock out its flight attendants, has ceased negotiating, said the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the cabin crew. Canadian Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu has repeatedly urged both parties to negotiate.
Air Canada’s Chief Human Resources Officer Arielle Meloul-Wechsler said on Thursday the carrier was “available to bargain at any time on the condition that the negotiation has substance.”
On Thursday night, Air Canada and the union clashed over an agreement to avoid stranding thousands of passengers abroad when the strike is expected to begin on Saturday. The deal would have delayed the walkout for cabin crew who were away from their home base, until they returned with their passengers on Saturday.
Air Canada said on X that an additional 25,000 passengers would be stranded after the union rejected that deal, adding that double the usual number of flight attendants did not report for work on Thursday night.
But in a bulletin to members, the union said it supports the deal, which failed because Air Canada said it would not honor its members’ collective agreements when they fly back on Saturday with their passengers. The flight attendants’ contract ceases to apply when the strike begins on Saturday, the union said.
The dispute hinges on the way airlines compensate flight attendants. Most have traditionally paid them only when planes are in motion.
But in their latest contract negotiations, flight attendants in North America have sought compensation for hours worked, including for tasks such as boarding passengers and waiting around the airport before and between flights.
(Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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