Negotiators for Air Canada's unionized pilots will be returning to the bargaining table.
Captain Paul Strachan, president of the Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA), said Wednesday that the union's negotiating team will seek common ground with the company, noting the previous contract expired March 31.
Union leaders decided last Friday to scrap a ratification vote for a tentative labour pact, after hundreds of pilots complained about the carrier's plan to start a low-cost carrier to lure leisure travellers and objected to pension reforms, including a proposal for new hires to join defined contribution plans.
Separately, pilots will conduct a 10-day vote starting Thursday at noon on recalling Captain Bruce White, chairman of the union's master executive council.
A group of disenchanted pilots declared it had gathered more than 1,480 supporters on a website petitioning to recall Mr. White. "The recall petition has been validated," Mr. Strachan said.
In a message to pilots Friday, Mr. White acknowledged the recall petition. "ACPA secretary-treasurer, Captain Jon Webster, has advised me that he is now in possession of a petition seeking my recall. There is a process required under the ACPA constitution which needs to be followed in regards to the recall of any ACPA official," Mr. White wrote.
A 22-page section in the tentative labour agreement included provisions to give Air Canada the right to deploy a competitor against Toronto-based Porter Airlines Inc. that would employ non-union pilots.
In the absence of any new contract, Sky Regional Airlines Inc. is breaching current union rules, but the new flights will go ahead as scheduled because ACPA will await further labour talks before deciding whether to file a union grievance about Sky Regional, Mr. Strachan said.
Under the tentative agreement, Air Canada would have effectively gained the ability to further restrain flying by Jazz Air LP, which flies regional routes for Air Canada and is staffed by unionized pilots. Air Canada's unionized pilots are concerned that Sky Regional, which beat out Jazz for the Toronto island business, could grow further.
Brent Jang