So it looks like Air Canada's order of up to 96 new Boeings to modernize the airline is now kaput due to the pilots rejecting the new contract to fly them. Unfortunately, they seem to have rejected the contract not so much for the pay involved, as some other union shinguard around seniority from when AC and Canadian merged:
An industry source said yesterday that a key factor in the union voting turned out to be disgruntled pilots who had wages slashed in 2003, one of the ripple effects from Air Canada's merger with Canadian Airlines International Ltd. in 2000.
The angry pilots belong to the so-called Original Air Canada group, caught up in a union turf war after many of their Canadian Airlines counterparts moved ahead of them on merged seniority lists. For some OAC captains flying narrow-body aircraft, for instance, the merger meant job demotions as wages dropped to $143 (Canadian) an hour from $205 an hour. Others saw their wages fall to $98 an hour from $167 an hour. Pilots typically fly 80 hours a month.
The No camp, including veteran Air Canada pilots bumped down in seniority rankings, marshalled its forces and got supporters out to vote against the tentative pact for flying new Boeing aircraft.
http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/Artic...0/wxaircanada20
There's some speculation that it's Milton playing poker with the pilots which I wouldn't entirely rule out. I can't beleive that so many years after the fact, that the AC pilots and the Canadian ones haven't buried the hatchet yet, and that they would torpedo this new order which would have vaulted AC into the big leagues of passenger comfort, and routes of airlines (we'll see about service). Just another case of unions failing to see the big picture IMHO. Didn't know pilots were making $100K to $140K a year - can see why the desire to cut their salaries was so high.
