A strike by 10,000 flight attendants that had grounded Air Canada’s (AC) operations has now ended.
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The Montreal-based carrier says it is taking steps to resume operations after it was forced to cancel more than 700 flights when its flight attendants walked off the job on Aug. 16. The strike ended after the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents the flight attendants, agreed to a tentative new labor agreement.
Air Canada said it will likely take more than a week to fully return to normal operations. The airline estimates that about 500,000 people have been disrupted by the short-lived strike that brought its operations both within Canada and abroad to a standstill.
Pay Issues
Details of the new labor agreement have not been made public and the flight attendants will need to vote on it before a new collective agreement can be ratified, said the union. The main sticking points at the bargaining table related to pay and scheduling. Air Canada had offered the flight attendants a 32.5% pay increase, which CUPE rejected.
Canada’s federal government had ordered the flight attendants to return to work on Aug. 17 and enter binding arbitration with Air Canada, but the flight attendants refused. CUPE called the back-to-work order “unconstitutional” and said its members would remain on strike until a new labor pact was reached.
AC stock has declined 13% this year.
Is AC Stock a Buy?
Air Canada’s stock has a consensus Strong Buy rating among 11 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 10 Buy and one Hold recommendations issued in the last three months. The average AC price target of C$26.50 implies 36.97% upside from current levels.
