Star Metro - Air Canada flight attendants end strike after reaching 'tentative' deal

Roughly 10,000 flight attendants walked off the job after midnight Saturday, insisting Air Canada had failed to address their demands for higher pay and compensation for unpaid ground work, including during boarding.

The attendants' union defied an order from a regulatory tribunal to return to work on Sunday, forcing Air Canada to roll back plans to partially restore service.

But after resuming talks on Monday evening, the union said it had reached a potential deal with the airline that it would put to its members for consideration.

"The Strike has ended. We have a tentative agreement we will bring forward to you," the Canadian Union of Public Employees' (CUPE) Air Canada branch said on Facebook on Tuesday.

"We are required to advise our membership that we must fully cooperate with resumption of operations," the statement said.

Air Canada said in a statement that it would "gradually restart its operations" after reaching an agreement with CUPE through a mediator, William Kaplan.

It said the first flights were scheduled for Tuesday evening but warned that full service may not return for seven to 10 days.

"Restarting a major carrier like Air Canada is a complex undertaking. Full restoration may require a week or more," Air Canada president Michael Rousseau said.

Neither the union nor the airline immediately provided details of the proposed agreement.

CUPE said its members would hold presentations to inform members about the deal, adding that their right to vote on wage changes "was preserved."

- More travel disruption -

Air Canada -- the national carrier which flies directly to 180 cities domestically and abroad -- has said the strike forced cancellations impacting 500,000 people.

Over the weekend, federal labor minister Patty Hajdu invoked a legal provision to halt the strike and force both sides into binding arbitration.

Following that intervention, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), a regulatory tribunal, ordered the flight attendants back to work Sunday.

But the union said it would not comply with the order, forcing Air Canada to walk back service resumption plans.

Air Canada told customers on Tuesday to expect continued disruption "as aircraft and crew are out of position."

It urged passengers to only travel to the airport if their flight was shown as operating.

"The suspension of our service is extremely difficult for our customers. We deeply regret and apologize for the impact on them of this labour disruption," Rousseau said.

Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters Monday it was "disappointing" that eight months of negotiations between the carrier and union had not produced an agreement.

He said it was "important" that flight attendants were "compensated equitably," but voiced unease that hundreds of thousands of people were facing travel uncertainty.

Last week, Air Canada detailed the terms offered to cabin crew, indicating a senior flight attendant would on average make CAN$87,000 ($65,000) by 2027.

CUPE has described Air Canada's offers as "below inflation (and) below market value."

A.Jackson--SMC