{"id":146005,"date":"2025-08-14T20:52:27","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T20:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/146005\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T20:52:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T20:52:27","slug":"air-canada-cancels-flights-as-flight-attendants-plan-work-stoppage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/146005\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Canada cancels flights as flight attendants plan work stoppage"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO (AP) \u2014 Air Canada started canceling flights on Thursday ahead of a possible work stoppage<\/a> by flight attendants that could impact hundreds of thousands of travelers.<\/p>\n

A complete shutdown of the country\u2019s largest airline threatens to impact about 130,000 people a day. <\/p>\n

The union representing around 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants issued a 72-hour strike notice Wednesday. In response, the airline issued a lockout notice.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Air<\/p>\n

Air Canada executives leave after they are interrupted by Air Canada flight attendants during a press conference as a possible strike looms, in Toronto, on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n

Air Canada executives leave after they are interrupted by Air Canada flight attendants during a press conference as a possible strike looms, in Toronto, on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Mark Nasr, Chief Operations Officer for Air Canada, said the airline has begun a gradual suspension of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll flights will be paused by Saturday early morning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nasr said this approach will help facilitate an orderly restart \u201cwhich under the best circumstances will take a full week to complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said a first set of cancellations involving several dozen flights will impact long-haul overseas flights that were due to depart Thursday night. \u201cBy tomorrow evening we expect to have cancelled flights affecting over 100,000 customers,\u201d Nasr said. \u201cBy the time we get to 1 a.m. on Saturday morning we will be completely grounded.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said a grounding will affect 25,000 Canadians a day abroad who may become stranded. They expect 500 flights to be cancelled by the end of Friday. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Air<\/p>\n

Air Canada executives are interrupted by Air Canada flight attendants during a press conference as a possible strike looms, in Toronto, on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n

Air Canada executives are interrupted by Air Canada flight attendants during a press conference as a possible strike looms, in Toronto, on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

He said customers whose flights are cancelled will be eligible for a full refund, and it has also made arrangements with other Canadian and foreign carriers to provide alternative travel options \u201cto the extent possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, head of human resources for Air Canada, said their latest offer includes a 38% increase in total compensation including benefits and pensions over four years.<\/p>\n

The union has said its main sticking points revolve around what it calls flight attendants\u2019 \u201cpoverty wages\u201d and unpaid labor when planes aren\u2019t in the air.<\/p>\n

Some flight attendants at the airline\u2019s news conference on Thursday held up signs that read \u201cUnpaid work won\u2019t fly\u201d and \u201cPoverty wages = UnCanadian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natasha Stea, who represents flight attendants in Montreal for the union, said she thinks the airline is counting on the government to intervene. Stea said they want a fair and equitable contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is still time. I\u2019m sure if we sat down and talked we could actually get to an agreement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Air<\/p>\n

Air Canada flight attendants interrupt Air Canada executives during a press conference as a possible strike looms in Toronto on Thursday, August 14, 2025. (Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n

Air Canada flight attendants interrupt Air Canada executives during a press conference as a possible strike looms in Toronto on Thursday, August 14, 2025. (Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

The union rejected a proposal from the airline to enter a binding arbitration process, saying it prefers to negotiate a deal that its members can then vote on.<\/p>\n

Meloul-Wechsler said they\u2019ve hit an impasse but are still available for talks and consensual arbitration.<\/p>\n

She said that if a deal isn\u2019t reached, the resulting \u201cvery serious disruptions\u201d would prompt the company to consider asking for government intervention.<\/p>\n

Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said she asked the union to respond to the airline\u2019s request for arbitration. She urged both sides to come to an agreement independently, saying she believes deals are best made at the bargaining table. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO (AP) \u2014 Air Canada started canceling flights on Thursday ahead of a possible work stoppage by flight…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":146006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[20577,86386,64,2147,38508,57,24963,86384,86387,86385,1607,67,132,68,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-146005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-air-canada","9":"tag-arielle-meloul-wechsler","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-compensation-and-benefits","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-labor-unions","15":"tag-mark-nasr","16":"tag-natasha-stea","17":"tag-patty-hajdu","18":"tag-strikes","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115029104807521562","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}