MONTREAL, June 12, 2011 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada provides the following update on its talks with the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW) representing the airline's call centre and airport check-in and gate agents in Canada. On Friday June 10, 2011 the union advised the airline that it intends to begin labour action starting at 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday June 14, 2011 in the event an agreement is not reached by that time.
"We continue to be fully engaged in talks with the CAW with a focus on achieving a negotiated settlement and avoiding strike action by the union," said Duncan Dee, Air Canada's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "Should this not be possible and the CAW commences job action, Air Canada's contingency service plan will come into effect in order to continue operating a full schedule and to minimize impact on customers. We urge customers booked for travel over the coming days to familiarize themselves prior to travel with the self-service check-in and booking tools available at aircanada.com in order that they can self-manage their check-in and bookings prior to arriving at the airport. Customers with questions should visit our website aircanada.com where we have posted comprehensive information that will help them plan for travel, including how to avoid expected longer lines at self service check-in and baggage tagging kiosks at the nine Canadian airports that would be affected.
"In the event of a strike, we will continue to operate a full schedule and all bookings will be honoured. Management has been trained to provide assistance at the airports that would be affected. However, our available airport personnel will be limited so their priority will be to attend to customers with special requirements. We appreciate this situation may cause uncertainty for our customers and we thank them for their patience and understanding." In the event of labour action, the following nine Canadian airports would be affected: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto Pearson, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and St. John's NL.
Air Canada continues to operate its normal schedule. However, due to a high volume of calls at our call centres, wait times are longer than usual. To avoid waiting, Air Canada strongly recommends customers consult its website, aircanada.com, which will continue to be updated with the latest information for customers. In addition, aircanada.com offers self-service tools that can be used for making bookings, checking-in for flights within 24 hours before departure and rebooking flights in case a flight is delayed or cancelled for reasons such as bad weather. Air Canada's self service check-in and rebooking tools as well as flight information are also available on mobile devices at mobile.aircanada.com.