Air Canada hopes to lower the costs for their existing business by having the employees for the new airline enjoy more flexible work rules, but fewer benefits and less pay.
Yet Associate Professor Marc-David Seidel views it “more as a negotiation tactic with their unions on the mainline.” Seidel believes that the unions will resent this latest effort, which may negatively impact Air Canada’s core business as an international carrier—a domain where higher customer service is expected.
“I do see it making their mainline labour relations even more adversarial,” Seidel says. “Creating an adversarial relationship with the people providing that service doesn’t help.”
