Air Canada pilots kickstart bargaining, hot on heels of WestJet crew wage gains

Air Canada pilots have kickstarted the bargaining process with their employer in a move that comes days after their fellow union members at WestJet ratified a new collective agreement. Representing about 4,500 employees, the Air Line Pilots Association’s Air Canada contingent said it has provided a bargaining notice to company management, the first step toward hashing out a new deal. The decision comes two weeks after the pilots’ group invoked a clause to end its 10-year collective agreement a year early and launch negotiations for a new one. Key issues include a widening wage gap between Canadian pilots and their US counterparts as well as job security and career progression, said Charlene Hudy, who heads the contingent. “The Air Canada pilots have not been in a meaningful negotiating position since 2014, and in these negotiations we are striving for a historic contract for our Air Canada pilots to address this growing disparity between the United States and Canada,” she said in a statement. The current deal will remain in force until Sept. 29 and its provisions will still apply after that date. “Such negotiations usually take months, and this is just the beginning,” said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick in an email. “The current agreement, which has been in place for nearly a decade, is a testament to the productive relationship we have with our pilots. We expect the upcoming negotiations to be conducted in this same spirit.”<br/>