00:00Air Canada cabin staff go on strike. Air Canada's unionized flight attendants walked off the job
00:07early on Saturday, 16, morning after pay talks with the country's largest carrier stalled,
00:12in a move that is expected to disrupt travel plans for more than 100,000 passengers.
00:17The union representing more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants confirmed the 72-hour
00:21stoppage in a social media post just before 0100 ET, 5 o'clock GMT, in the first strike by flight
00:28attendants since 1985. The airline said on Saturday it had suspended all flights for Air Canada and its
00:34budget arm Air Canada Rouge, after cabin crew represented by the Canadian Union of Public
00:39Employees, Coop, went on strike. About 130,000 customers will be impacted each day that the
00:46strike continues, Air Canada said in a statement. Air Canada is strongly advising affected customers
00:51not to go to the airport unless they have a confirmed ticket on an airline other than Air
00:56Canada or Air Canada Rouge, the airline said. Flights for regional operators Air Canada Jazz
01:01and PAL Airlines would continue to operate. Attendants are currently paid when the plane is
01:06moving and the union is seeking to also be compensated for time spent on the ground between
01:10flights and helping passengers board. Montreal-based Air Canada, which is expected to respond quickly by
01:16locking out the workers, had said it anticipated cancelling 623 flights by the end of Friday during
01:22the busy summer travel season. It expected around 100,000 people would be affected on Friday alone.
01:28Flight attendants will on Saturday picket at major Canadian airports, where passengers were already
01:33trying to secure new bookings earlier in the week, as the carrier gradually wound down operations.
01:39Passenger Freddy Ramos, 24, said on Friday at Canada's largest airport in Toronto that his earlier
01:44flight was cancelled due to the labour dispute and that he had been rebooked by Air Canada to a different
01:49destination. Probably 10 minutes prior to boarding, our gate got changed and then it was cancelled and
01:54then it was delayed and then it was cancelled again, he said. Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge
01:59normally carry about 130,000 customers a day. Air Canada is also the busiest foreign carrier
02:06servicing the US by number of scheduled flights. While the dispute has generated support from passengers
02:11for the flight attendants on social media, Canadian businesses reeling from a trade dispute with
02:16United States urged the federal government to impose binding arbitration on both sides, which would
02:21end the strike. Air Canada has asked Prime Minister Mark Carney's minority liberal government to order
02:26both sides into binding arbitration, although COOP, which represents the attendants, said it opposed
02:31the move. The Canada Labour Code gives Jobs Minister Paddy Haidu the right to ask the country's
02:36industrial relations board to impose binding arbitration in the interests of protecting the economy.
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