A look inside Air Canada pilots’ strike headquarters

we are tracking the ongoing labor dispute between Air Canada and its Pilots both sides are still at the table but the company says it could suspend flights as soon as Sunday Chris Glover is at the pilot Union headquarters now Chris what's the latest from there well Dwight you put it uh quite correctly there both sides in fact say that they're optimistic that a strike or a lockout could be averted here but as you were mentioning Air Canada has moved ahead finalizing those contingency plans to wind down plan that could start on Sunday and the union here is uh launching its strike center today so all of these people behind me many of them are pilots themselves and they're touching base with Air Canada Pilots domestically and internationally as well updating them on what is going on with this contract impass between the union and between the uh between Air Canada and so essentially they're trying to find out where everybody is they've put a little priority checklist here they're trying to track the pilots find out where they are if a strike or lockout begins they'll support the pilots and their families and then finally they're going to try to get them home if they need to if the strike or lockout prolongs and goes for a significant amount of time so that's why a center like this quite unique to see uh in the days leading up to a strike or a lockout but obviously this is a unique set of circumstances and they're also tracking their planes here on this board that you can see behind me Roman here was just filling me in on what this is all about and every plane there is symboled by a yellow plane and ultimately if there is a strike or a lockout next week that would all of those little yellow planes would disappear and I want to bring in now the uh somebody who's with the Union Charlene hoodie um you're a pilot yourself and you're here launching this uh this center today tell me why is a center like this so important in a strike or a lockout that is as unique as we're talking about right now so we are ready we opened our strike Center this morning we're fully prepared and ready a staffed strike Center should we be in a a strike position or a lockout position from Air Canada we have to be able to support our pilots and we are ready to do so we have countless volunteers putting in a lot of time uh to make sure our Pilots are supported and the support and services from the international airline pilots Association the union that we're a part of we're hearing from both sides that they are optimistic that a strike can be avoided and yet we have Air Canada finalizing its gency plans to wind down planes potentially starting on Sunday you guys are starting this headquarters here How likely do you think a striker or lockout is going to be we really need Air Canada to stay committed to the bargaining table and and come to the table with a an offer an agreement that that we can really really contemplate I would much rather be here today telling yourself and the Canadian public that we've come to a deal with Air Canada unfortunately we're not there yet uh we're here opening up our strike Center instead now the big sticking point with this strike uh has been truly about wages obviously we've heard from the pilots Union saying that they want to have parity with pilots in the United States uh Air Canada has sent us a statement and they said that that was an unfair wage increase and out of step with other contracts that other Canadian companies are receiving what would you and other Pilots kind of what's your view on that perspective from Air Canada saying that what you're asking for is too much it's a very uh creative interpretation of what we're trying to achieve at the negotiations table this is about a total compensation package as it relates to our wages and also to our working conditions what I mean by that is the quality of life concerns we have uh scheduling vacation you know we we do love our jobs as Air Canada pilots and we take them very seriously uh the responsibility carry when we fly our passengers all over the world we're asking to have that work life balance um so that when we go home we have enough days to really fully rest and recuperate so that we can operate our jobs well rested and I also know I'm representing a thousand pilots who have a second job right now they have that second job out of necessity it's because they need to put food on the table they need to pay their bills they're trying to pay off the debt they accumulated to become a pilot in the first place okay well thank you Charlene very much for speaking with us this morning Charlene hoodie here with the Union giving us a look at what's going on here inside this room we did also speak with a labor studies Professor from Carlton University who said even if a work stoppage takes place with Air Canada it likely would be shortlived here's more from Ian Lee successive parliaments of Canada successive governments it didn't matter the partisanship or the political party they legislated striking workers back to work 33 times since 1950 31 of the 33 times were in the transportation sector only while these workers certainly have the right to strike Supreme Court affirmed that in 2015 the reality in our country is that if you exercise that right in the transportation sector only it is a very short step before you will be sent back to work either through uh Back To Work legislation or binding arbitration and Dwight uh Premier Doug Ford has also weighed in on this this morning calling this potential here very concerning but saying that it's a a great Union a good company and he is certainly hopeful that uh Air Canada will not see a strike or any sort of work stoppage here thank you for the update