Give Air Canada, union time to negotiate: Layton

Opposition Leader Jack Layton lashed out at the Conservative government's plan to legislate an end to a strike by Air Canada employees on Wednesday, calling it a "draconian measure" that abuses the government's role in labour talks.

Layton said the government's decision to seek a forced end to the strike, which came just hours after some 3,800 call centre staff and check-in agents walked off the job at midnight Tuesday, suggested it had no interest in allowing the union to negotiate for a better deal.

"Here we have, moments after a labour conflict reaches the point of a work stoppage, the government is bringing in back-to-work legislation," Layton told reporters on Wednesday. "This shows the government is not serious about allowing people work things out at the table. They are standing very clearly on the side of the company."

Labour Minister Lisa Raitt has given notice that the federal government would table legislation to end the strike within 48 hours. The call came just hours after some 3,800 call centre staff and check-in agents walked off the job at midnight Tuesday.

The move, she said, would be aimed at ensuring the strike does not harm Canada's economic recovery.

Both the union and Air Canada have said a negotiated settlement would be preferable to being forced back to work, although they remain divided on how to get there.

In an interview with CTV's Canada AM early Wednesday, the president of the striking airline employees' union said the rumblings from Parliament Hill don't matter as much as the talk at the bargaining table.

"I don't even worry about the government orders," Canadian Auto Workers National President Ken Lewenza said, explaining that he was nevertheless surprised by the government's threat.

But he said the union is unmoved from its commitment to hammering out a deal with the airline.

"We've got to go to work and try to get a deal because a bargained settlement between both sides ratified by the membership is much more important than being legislated back to work," Lewenza said.

Commenting in a separate interview just moments later, Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick indicated the airline is on the same page.

"It's probably best to leave politics to the politicians," he said, echoing Lewenza's call for a negotiated settlement. "That's really where we're directed and that's what we're hoping for."

While he agrees with the government's opinion that Air Canada is a strategic industry on which the national economy depends, he doesn't think it would be best served by a legislated end to the strike.

"It's best to have the airline functioning as it normally does," he said. "We want to get there and we think the best way to do that is by reaching a settlement directly with the CAW."

While speaking to reporters, Layton agreed with Fitzpatrick and Lewenza and said the two sides should be given time for hammer out a lasting agreement.

"This issue should be resolved, and the associated complexities, at the bargaining table. That is what a government should be doing: encouraging the sides to get together," he said.

The two sides are in agreement on that issue, but they're far apart on a number of others including wages and the biggest stumbling block of all -- proposed changes to employees' pension plans.

With the airline facing an approximately $2-billion unfunded pension shortfall, Air Canada has proposed a defined contribution pension plan for new employees, while maintaining the current defined benefit plan for existing employees.

In Lewenza's view, the offer is really an attempt to "divert most of the costs associated with the pension plan on the backs of our members."

That won't fly, he said, explaining that union is committed to maintaining the existing benefit plan for current employees as well as future new hires.

But with the growing number of retirees expected to live longer than previous generations, Fitzpatrick said the union's position fails to account for the "new reality" in pensions.

With its customer service staff walking the picket lines at nine airports nationwide, approximately 1,700 Air Canada managers have taken on the striking employees' jobs.

An airline spokesperson said just one per cent of Air Canada flights were cancelled on the first day of strike action.

In an interview from Ottawa, Raitt said she set the legislative ball rolling on Tuesday because the impact of the strike is expected to grow as it goes on. And given the two sides' failure to resolve the issue of pensions going back to 2009, Raitt said she wouldn't expect them to suddenly reach a deal anytime soon.

"The anticipated result was after about 5 to 7 days that the travelling public would be greatly inconvenienced," she said.

"Knowing what the process is involved with back-to-work legislation we commenced it yesterday because it takes 48 hours even before the tabling of legislation," Raitt added, noting that it would then have to be put to debate and a vote. "So it would be 7-8 days from the time which you give notice ... to actually having action."