Air Canada passengers making backup plans amid possible strike

there are calls for federal intervention as a possible strike by pilots uh of a lockout at Air Canada is really looming CB 24's Courtney heels is following the latest on this story and joins us live this morning inside Pearson airport with more on what could potentially happen between now and next Wednesday Courtney hey good morning Jennifer we actually just moved from Pearson Airport over to the the strike Center here where the union representing about 5,000 Air Canada Pilots they're getting ready for the possibility of walking off the job or a lockout so really uh the clock is ticking at this point we're giving you a quick look behind the scenes you can see members you know Fielding phone calls because there are a lot of questions a lot of uncertainty right now I want to bring in Charlene I'm sure you can explain what's happening behind me here a little bit better give us a sense of how you your union is getting ready for the possibility of a strike here I appreciate you joining us here in our fully functioning and open strike Center uh we have a slew of volunteers behind us uh working behind the scenes right now to make sure we know where our Pilots are that we can support our Pilots should we end up in a lockout or strike scenario with their Canada uh on the 18th at uh midnight 01 if you will so uh first thing Wednesday morning or or Tuesday night so as it stands right now the negotiations with Air Canada are still happening both sides still at the table how would you describe how those talks are going uh the negotiations are still happening we're still in the end of the 21-day cooling off period uh we're seeing some progress at the table we're still asking that Air Canada really shows up and and closes the Gap that we're seeing at the negotiating table is is this new then some progress at the table I mean we heard from airic Canada earlier this week saying it seems as though the two sides are still quite far apart so is that a new development a little bit of progress there I would say that uh with negotiations any negotiations it's incredibly fluid and dynamic and so we have seen some movement in the last couple days uh we're not there yet though we do need Air Canada to really show up and compensate value this pilot group appropriately for the work that we do provide Air Canada on compensation I know part of the argument is uh seeing compensation similar to what American Pilots uh are getting in terms of wages can you help us understand that what the request is and what the difference can be when it comes to the pay scale I think that when we're looking at our industry counterparts uh whether they're in Canada or North America at large uh when we're representing Pilots that are in most cases paid half of what their industry counterparts are made we do really need to to close that Gap and in some scenarios the pilots who are first hired at Air Canada um they're in situations where they're having to take on second jobs we've surveyed our Pilots we know that a quarter of the pilots I represent out of the 5,500 we do represent um 80% of those pil a quarter of them have a second job 80% of those Pilots that job is out of necessity they have that second job because they're trying to put food on the table they're trying to pay their bills they're trying to pay off the debt that they had to accumulate to even become a pilot in the first place and they come to Air Canada with experience so again we're asking Air Canada to recognize that do you think people are surprised by that that maybe people assume that pilots make really great money and don't necessarily realize that's not the case especially when starting out I think that even in my conversations with family and friends when you speak about that wage disparity it is shocking um lastly can I ask you to explain the oh no the map is gone there was this really great map on the wall showing where your Pilots your airplanes are around the world I I wanted to see if you could just speak to the prep work behind the scenes because if there was a strike or a lockout your your airline pilots are are all over the world how do you kind of prepare for that that's correct Air Canada is a global operation operating not only in Canada North America but around the world we still are launching flights as we speak so our responsibility is to support and take care of our Pilots I think everyone can appreciate this is uh a stressful time right now for all involved we're really trying to come to a deal with their Canada at the table should we not be able to do that uh we need to make sure we know where our Pilots are if Air Canada can't get them home we'll certainly make sure we can get them home home and take care of them and then uh make sure everyone knows what our next steps are after that yeah there's a striker a lockout obviously a very big impact for sure Charlene thank you for taking the time to speak with us this morning we'll of course be in touch because we know of course the impact uh with the Union of course for Canada and for people who are planning to fly this morning Jen you saw we were over at Pearson a lot of people catching flights with Air Canada first thing this morning also saying at that time they weren't sure what was going to happen next week and they were trying to make other arrangements