With the threat of an Air Canada pilots strike looming, Canadian business associations are making a last-minute push to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“The business community, I think, is exhausted by the the series of labour disruptions that have taken place over the last 15 months, whether it’s ports, whether it’s rail and now it’s airlines,” Fiona Famulak, president and CEO of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce told Global News.
Associations sent a letter to Federal Labour Minister Stephen McLennan, pointing out time-sensitive goods such as vaccines, perishable food products and machinery parts for manufacturers, all rely on Air Canada’s cargo network.
“We all rely, whether you are a consumer, an employee or a business, we all rely on those infrastructures to travel to, import to, export product,” Famulak said.
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“And when that infrastructure is disrupted, it calls into question Canada’s ability to be a good, reliable trading partner. And… we run the risk of our trading partners looking elsewhere globally to meet their needs.”
Air Canada pilots voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike mandate, putting them in a position to walk off the job as early as Sept. 17.
In the open letter, Canada’s leading business organizations said the timing of this potential strike could not be worse.
“The impacts of a labour disruption at Air Canada will ripple throughout the economy, affecting Canadian consumers, employees, and businesses,” the letter reads.
It also calls on the federal government to refer the matter to binding arbitration if contract negotiations fail.
The labour minister said he expects both sides to get a deal done.
“Knuckle down, get a deal,” MacKinnon said.
“Canadians are expecting you to do that work, expecting the union to do that work and to make the compromises necessary and expecting Air Canada, the company to do that work and make the compromises necessary.”
Air Canada says unless an agreement is reached on Sunday, either side could issue a 72-hour strike or lockout notice.
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