Ottawa unlikely to take action on pilots' strike

Possible Air Canada job action more inconvenience’ than crisis, experts say

- JOSH RUBIN

Air Canada might be hoping for government intervention to limit damage from a potential pilot strike, but they could be out of luck, industry and labour experts say.

With a strike looming as soon as 12:01 a.m. next Wednesday, the country’s biggest airline and the Air Line Pilots Association are still at the bargaining table, but the company has already joined a growing business chorus saying it wants federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to step in.

“If a negotiated settlement is not reached and a work stoppage is unavoidable … Air Canada would look to the government to intervene, as it has in recent labour disputes, before Canadian travellers and other stakeholders experience such a disruption,” Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said in an email Thursday afternoon.

Fitzpatrick said the airline has been negotiating “in good faith” for 15 months.

Air Canada pilots are poised to go on strike as soon as 12:01 a.m. next Wednesday.

Earlier, a coalition of business groups including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, as well as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, called on MacKinnon to act pre-emptively and refer the dispute to binding arbitration.