TORONTO, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Union officials representing Air Canada flight attendants Monday blasted a federal arbitrator's decision imposing terms of a contract the union rejected.
Paul Moist, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said flight attendants were angered by arbitrator Elizabeth MacPherson's ruling but added there likely would be no appeal, Postmedia News reported.
"The federal government has set a tone for all kinds of federally regulated bargaining," he said. "It is extremely disappointing for flight attendants today. But it is much bigger than CUPE or the postal workers or [the Canadian Auto Workers]. There's a chill being cast on collective bargaining under the guise of the economy."
The four-year deal is retroactive to April 1, the day after the most recent contract expired. Flight attendants will get 2 percent raises each of the first three years and a 3 percent bump the fourth year.
The 6,800 flight attendants had rejected that offer last month and an earlier one, going against their union leaders' recommendations.
MacPherson said she decided the second agreement was as close to a freely negotiated settlement as possible and found no special circumstances to warrant changing it.
She said the union bargaining committee had done "a superb job of extracting additional concessions" from the airline after the first tentative agreement was turned down by the flight attendants.
A spokesman for Air Canada was not immediately available for comment Monday, Postmedia News said.
