Air Canada said on Thursday that the federal Canadian government should be prepared to intervene to prevent a looming pilots' strike that the carrier said could cause disruption for weeks to come.
"We are bargaining. We are committed to reaching a deal. But we are saying that if that fails, the government should be ready to intervene and avoid the disruption," - Christophe Hennebelle (Air Canada’s vice-president of corporate communications)
this is not what a company that's negotiating in good faith does
NDP won't support interference
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Thursday morning the party would not support efforts to force pilots back to work.
"We're going to send a clear message again that we are opposed to Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, or any government, interfering with workers," said Singh.
Let’s make a real bargaining process happen. If the government is forced to intervene, for every day a negotiated contract is not signed, the company CEOs are directly fined 2 % of their total yearly compensation payable in the next tax year.
Air Canada is not a vital service (some of the little bush airlines that are the only way in or out of remote communities might be, but not them). Believing that the government should intervene on their behalf is such excessive hubris that I can't even.
I mean, if you're going with the libertarian logic, we don't need unions, but there's also no such thing as "low-cost labour". People get paid what they're worth to employers.
If you want wages higher than that, you need collective bargaining.