Flight attendants' union says it declined arbitration proposal by Air Canada

The union representing Air Canada's flight attendants says it has declined a proposal by the airline to resolve negotiations through arbitration.

In an update posted on the bargaining committee's website, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) wrote that Air Canada had proposed referring the matter to binding interest arbitration.

That process would bring a third-party arbitrator into the talks to mediate on specific items that haven't been agreed on by both sides and render a decision.

It would also suspend the chance of a lockout or strike. CUPE members voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike mandate last week, setting up a potential strike to begin as soon as 12:01 a.m. ET on Aug. 16.

CUPE published a letter addressed to the president of its Air Canada component, Wesley Lesosky, and signed by Air Canada vice-president and human resources chief Arielle Meloul-Wechsler on Monday.

"After eight months of negotiation, we have been unable to reach a tentative collective agreement despite our best efforts," the letter says.

Outlining the proposal, it adds that "if we cannot agree on an arbitrator within 30 days of your agreeing to the proposal, we ask the Minister of Labour to name one."

Air Canada has communicated to the union that the sides are too far apart, according to CUPE. The union says in its update that it intends to stay at the bargaining table.

A representative for CUPE told CBC News that both sides are "back to evaluating proposals" after their exchange. CBC News has reached out to Air Canada for comment.

Binding interest arbitration tends to be preferred by employers "because you are avoiding the strike and the business disruption," said Malini Vijaykumar, employment and labour lawyer at Nelligan Law in Ottawa.

CUPE's Air Canada component represents more than 10,000 flight attendants who work for the major airline and its budget carrier Air Canada Rouge.

Some of those workers held demonstrations outside four major Canadian airports on Monday for what the union called a "day of action."

The union says the most contentious issues at the bargaining table are wages — which it says have not kept pace with inflation — and unpaid work that occurs before boarding and after deplaning, such as safety checks and assisting passengers.

CUPE said last week that it would continue talks with Air Canada until Aug. 15, the day before a potential strike.

The two parties have been negotiating since March, when the previous 10-year collective agreement expired. But the talks reached an impasse in May, at which point the union filed for conciliation with the federal labour minister.

At the time, Air Canada said that its pay structure is in step with other global carriers. Delta Air Lines is the only major North American airline that offers ground pay to its flight attendants, paying them at half their hourly rate for 40 to 50 minutes of boarding time depending on the flight destination and aircraft.