As thousands of air passengers in Canada and around the world scrambled to adjust travel plans ahead of a potential strike by Air Canada’s flight attendants, the workers’ union rejected a request from the company to enter government arbitration to avoid the walkout.
Patty Hajdu, the country’s labor minister, had given the union until noon Eastern time on Friday to respond to a request from Air Canada to settle the labor dispute through binding arbitration.
But Hugh Pouliot, a spokesman for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, of which Air Canada’s flight attendants are members, said on Friday it had formally rejected the request.
“We will not surrender our constitutionally protected right to strike,” he said.
Air Canada had also asked the government to force the union to enter arbitration. Government-mandated arbitration, however, is normally used to end long and disruptive walkouts, not to block a strike before it begins.
After the union rejected the company’s request, a spokeswoman for Ms. Hajdu did not indicate whether the ministry would take that step, saying only, “We strongly urge the parties to work with federal mediators and get a deal done.”
She had continually urged the two sides to resume direct negotiations, which broke down over wages and the union’s demand that the company pay attendants for the hours worked before planes take off and after flights land, known as groundwork. Arbitrators rarely introduce major new changes — like groundwork compensation — in contracts they impose.
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