How an Air Canada work stoppage could disrupt small businesses | Canada Tonight

well the ongoing contract dispute between Air Canada and the pilots Union threatens to disrupt travel plans for many this weekend it could upend thousands of business trips vacations as well as cargo shipments as cbc's Peter Cen reports businesses on the East Coast that depend on tourism are already feeling the impact most people arriving on the island of newfinland do so by air and the majority fly Air Canada but now even before starting their vacation visitors aren't sure how it'll end it's quite worrisome because I'm here and how will I get back it's a little F to walk the union representing Pilots can issue a 72-hour strike notice as of Sunday a lockout notice is also possible Air Canada says it'll have to start winding down flights in anticipation as early as Friday a strike would ground all flights by Wednesday already Pilots have set up a strike headquarters in Toronto wages remain one of the big issues the pilots are looking for a big increase to close the gap with their American counterparts I'm cautiously optimistic um the last week or so seems to have been productive at the negotiating table um as you can see here we're we're ready for any eventuality but Air Canada is warning the federal government may need to step in if a deal isn't reached we have accepted accepted changes to over 70% of the collective bargaining agreement but we are now faced with unreasonable wage demands that unfortunately we cannot meet the tourism industry is also on edge and putting pressure on government a labor disruption in air travel won't just leave people stranded it will Ripple through the economy hitting small business owners who are already struggling to make it the best deals happen at the bargaining table the federal government is still hoping this will be resolved through negotiation not arbitration but some Travelers aren't waiting to find out back in Newland hotels are getting an increase in cancellations we're not going to be able to get the opportunity to make up uh this business so uh and for many of us it's the profit Air Canada is letting passengers rebook their flights for free adding any cancellations by the airline will result in a refund Peter Cowen CBC News St John's jesme ganet joins me now jzm is the vice president of National affairs with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business we reached him in Ottawa thank you so much for giving us your time here on Canada tonight it's my pleasure thank you for us I know that this is there there there are a number of factors that are involved here and of course businesses are you know high up on that list as well along with passengers but talk to us about the impact if there is any level of work stoppage what it could have on businesses yeah many small business owner are quite worry uh these days to uh have uh Air Canada uh pilot go on strike uh this could have a devastating impact on many small businesses especially those in Hospitality uh and tourism we're talking about loss of sales loss of Revenue uh you know bus those type of businesses rely on people coming in and showing up for events uh and and at the dining table and so if clients cannot travel to their um conferences if clients cannot travel to their place of leisure for vacation many small businesses will uh will suffer and uh will feel the pain of this work stoppage you along with several other groups many of your members as well uh were part of that letter that was sent to the minister of Labor uh Stephen McKinnon uh urging the government to step in on this urging them to say let let let us prevent a work stoppage because it is going to be it's going to have a massive impact um on businesses on the the movement of goods and services on the economy talk to us a bit more about what you're hearing from those members and and this letter that that was sent yeah we sent a letter and we communicated with government to essentially ask him asking that they don't stand just on the sideline and uh that they uh make sure that negotiations are uh uh going as well as they can be and that an agreement is reached uh we're hoping that uh and asking that services will remain fully operational while parties are negotiating but unfortunately if uh the parties cannot reach an agreement and the work stoppage uh uh happens uh next week we're calling on the government to uh either impose uh binding arbitration or introduce uh Back To Work legislation because small businesses rely heavily on trans Transportation Hub such as air ports and rail um this work stoppage will uh could happen few weeks only after a devastating work stoppage that happened at cm and cpkc and so the government really needs to be proactive the government really needs to step in and uh if negotiation fail the government has the tool to make sure that uh Air Canada flights uh don't stay on the ground for too long we know that um there is a dollar figure an estimate if you will that the cost to these businesses um is there a figure that you can give us in terms of if there is a work stopage we know for example with airports and and passengers 110,000 passengers a day would be impacted what would be the uh dollar amount or the estimate on businesses I'm not sure I can give you a a dollar amount this evening on uh and and and give a scale uh in dollar of the of the impact but think about businesses who rely on Travelers uh if nobody can uh travel on Air Canada flight the impact will be uh devastating for many small businesses that rely on those people traveling but it's not just the people traveling it's also a cargo that is uh transported by Air Canada flights and so it's products not getting to a consumer and so although I don't have a figure for you tonight uh you know small business owner have gone through a very a rough uh uh period in the last couple of years strike at the Port of Montreal strike at BC ports CN cpkc the St Lawrence Seaway uh the pandemic uh the inflation that is hitting small businesses hard and so the last thing that those small businesses Need is Another work stoppage that would paralyze the uh Canadian economy Before I Let You Go jme is there any uh advice that you've been giving to your members to say okay we are waiting on the government to hopefully act on this or a better even a deal to be reached and we don't have to worry but is there anything that you've been telling to say this is what you need to do to be prepared obviously businesses uh need to be aware that as of next week air travel could be uh uh uh could be impacted by a work stoppage but to be honest there's very little that small businesses can do to uh uh cope with the situation that's why we're so uh that's why we're active uh in the file and we're asking government to to intervene and not wait uh too long before uh putting in place measures that would make sure that a work stoppage does not happen because unfortunately small businesses are collateral damages of these work stoppage and there's very few uh Alternatives that they can have uh to to face such a a terrible situation we know the deadline is looming we're keeping a close eye on it indeed it J May thank you so much for giving us your time today J Megan net is the vice president of National affairs with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business thank you thank you well Ena shukman is certainly feeling the stress she's an Air Canada customer waiting new news on the strike we reached her today in British Columbia Ena thank you so much for giving us your time today my pleasure you are supposed to travel with AIC canana the next few days walk me through sort of how you're feeling I know just even travel itself can be you know kind have a level of anxiety now you're sort of sitting into this the seat of uncertainty yeah I'm pretty nervous because I'm traveling for business it's a you know big deal I'm joining my team at a trade show that's it's a intern National largest pet trade show in Canada it happens once a year and I'm speaking at it so I've already got a lot of things on my plate and then having to worry about whether the flight is going to get cancelled is really adding on a lot of stress for me so I mean you're not just going uh you're not just needing to travel now you're also preparing I mean this is also business for you as well so it's twofold um any contingency plans that you've been able to put in place uh well yeah couple days ago I received a notice from Air Canada basically saying we're going to start cancelling flights um so that got me really nervous because I was really hoping that things would just get settled down so I ended up booking a WestJet flight as a backup my original flight with air can that was non-refundable so the only way I can get my money back is if they cancel the flight but I can't wait and see because there's virtually no flights left already because I'm sure other people are panicking I couldn't even get a direct flight to Toronto I had to get a stop over in Calgary so it's already that bad wow and I can't wait and find out what happens and can I ask you um in terms of the cost are you having to pay more now to now reroute yourself if needed if you can't if that Air Canada flight essentially no longer exists uh yeah the flight that I booked as a backup is almost is more than double the cost of my original flight and I mean this is because it's last minute and it's I'm sure the flights are filling up and we're not going to be able to get that money back it's already spent um so we might be able to get credits and use it for other flights but it's a we're a small business every month's cash flow matters so this is still a hit for us when we look at bigger picture and we've been in this position before uh we know Air Canada we know it was with WestJet we know that there have sort of been a number of things that have happened that that that can cause disruptions um at airports and Airlines and whatnot um what more do you want to see being done to protect passengers but to ensure safe travel but continuous travel so people such as yourself can get to where they need to go to but businesses also we know are reeling from all of this and you're sort of you're you're on both sides of the of the coin on this with regards to being you know an individual who needs to get somewhere but you also have the business aspect so what do you what more do you want to see being done to ensure that people aren't in this in this situation oh that's a tough one I mean I I understand labor disputes and I mean being an know in the business myself I understand people need to have the right to negotiate their wages but uh I mean for something like this this is such a big disruption on top of already so many hard things that have happened over the last few years I I don't know what can be done other than just it's got to stop at some point this is we've been hammered through covid after covid Supply disruptions it just feels like it's never ending know what I mean yeah oh no exactly and it's as you say if it's not one thing it's something else and then it becomes this you know continuous domino effect what about your colleagues and those that you're supposed to be meeting up with what are you hearing from them are they also um in the same situation as well perhaps having a trouble getting to Toronto for this event um I think they booked in West initially so I I don't think they're in that situation but the other concern is that with so many people booking last minute flights are they're going to be delays C you know like we've seen so many challenges with the airline industry from all over the place right and so this is just going to have compounding effects with so many people trying to travel and rearrange plans like I I I'm I'm I'm worried that even with the rebooking that something's going to happen at this point and just really quickly you mentioned there yours is a non-refundable ticket but Air Canada because of this situation hasn't lifted that and said if you need to you know if you need to cancel this flight you'll get your money back well no what they said is that if they cancel the flight then they'll refunding the money okay but if it's refundable flight I actually can't re I can rebook it for another time I guess but that's not really an option for me because I'm traveling for a show that's the specific dat I'm wishing you well I'm hoping that it's not a stressful weekend for you as you're sort of going to be watching and tracking things and hopefully we can things can move on and people such as your know well the the thousands tens of thousands of passengers relying on our Canada can get into the skies and get to where they need to go Ena thank you so much for this Ena shukman is an Air Canada customer awaiting news on this strike Ena thank you again for this you're welcome