all of our Pilots are standing on the line at the same time to show and demonstrate to the company that we are in need of a new Collective Agreement after voting overwhelmingly in favor of a strike Air Canada Pilots held nationwide information pickets today including at the Winnipeg International Airport what they say is an effort to modernize a decades old contract the strike which could take place as early as September 17th could see roughly 5400 p PS walk out as negotiations have been taking place since June of 2023 with a federal conciliator overseeing ongoing talks in Toronto hotels the last Collective Agreement uh expired last year but it was a stale and outdated 10-year contract that was signed back in 2014 Captain Jill baso who spoke on behalf of the airline pilots Association International says the over 2,000 Pilots Nationwide were there on their free time and did not affect flights he says the goal is to educate passengers in Air Canada as a whole to show their resolve to get an updated contract signed starting tomorrow we get into a 21-day cooling off period and we're hopeful that both uh ourselves and Air Canada uh can get back to the table and um come to an agreement in a statement Air Canada says it intends to reach a negotiated settlement with its pilots and that the 3-we cooling off period gives the parties more than sufficient time to address any outstanding issues as for passengers Air Canada is offering those who have booked flights around the date of a possible pilot strike next month some increase flexibility in rebooking their travel by letting Travelers cancel their flight and receive a credit for Future travel and provide refunds for customers with refundable tickets however they say refunds will not be available for those with non-refundable tickets as the flights are SCH to operate as normal in Winnipeg Mitchell Ringo City news