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Air Canada and union are deadlocked, despite the government's plea for a deal to avoid a Saturday strike

Air Canada and its flight attendants remain at odds despite the government's pleas that both sides return to bargaining in order to avoid a strike which would disrupt travel for tens thousands of passengers.

Canada's largest airline has announced that it will cancel 500 flights before the strike on Saturday. This leaves 100,000 passengers scrambling to find alternatives.

Air Canada cancelled 30 flights on Friday morning (0930 GMT) according to Flightradar.

Flight attendants at the carrier are preparing to go on strike on Saturday morning just before 1 am EDT over stagnant contract negotiations on union demands of higher wages and compensations for unpaid labor.

The strike will hit Canada's tourism industry during the peak of summer travel and put the Liberal government, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney to the test. The carrier has asked the government to intervene and enforce arbitration.

Air Canada Rouge, its low-cost subsidiary, carries about 130,000 passengers a day. Air Canada has the most flights from Canada to the U.S. despite recent reductions in travel due to trade tensions.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPEU), which represents cabin crew, reported that Air Canada has stopped negotiating. It has also sent out notices to its flight attendants that they will be locked out. Patty Hajdu, the Canadian Minister of Jobs, has repeatedly encouraged both sides to negotiate.

Arielle Meloul Wechsler, Chief Human Resources Officer at Air Canada, said that the airline was "available for bargaining at any time as long as the negotiation is substantive."

Air Canada and its union clashed on Thursday night over an agreement that would prevent thousands of passengers from being stranded abroad when the strike was expected to start Saturday. The agreement would have delayed cabin crew's walkout until Saturday, when they return with their passengers.

Air Canada announced on X on Friday that 25,000 additional passengers will be stranded as a result of the union rejecting the deal. They also said that the usual double number of flight attendants failed to report for work Thursday night.

In a message to its members, however, the union stated that it supported the deal. This failed, because Air Canada refused to honor the collective agreements of their members when they return on Saturday, with passengers. The union stated that the flight attendants contract will cease to be valid when the strike starts on Saturday.

The dispute revolves around the way airlines pay flight attendants. Most airlines have paid flight attendants only when the planes are moving.

In their most recent contract negotiations, North American flight attendants have asked for compensation for the hours they worked. This includes tasks like boarding passengers or waiting at airports before and after flights. (Reporting by Allison Lampert, Montreal; Editing and proofreading by Christian Schmollinger).

(source: Reuters)