OMG they're not worth the 30%

Really? How hard is it to fly a fricken plane? These guys are glorified truck drivers except their "fender benders" involve a crater.

I'd hire some nonunion scabs from Venezuela and save the money.

Air Canada is offering its pilots a huge raise to avoid a strike

The company is nearing a deadline for a work stoppage

By Melvin Backman, Quartz Media

PublishedFriday 1:20PM

Air Canada is working hard to make its pilots happy, as labor negotiations with the union is coming down to the wire. Bloomberg reports that the airline is offering the workers a 30% pay raise to avoid a looming strike.

“Air Canada’s intention remains to reach a negotiated settlement with its pilots, one that recognizes their professionalism and contributions to the airline,” the company said in a late August update on the talks, which have going on since last June.

The carrier, which is Canada’s largest, has until September 17 to reach a deal with its 5,000 members of the Air Line Pilots Association. Canadian labor law mandates that airline workers undergo federal mediation before any work stoppages can happen or before the company can decide to lock them out instead. Should an impasse be reached, the Canadian ALPA members voted last month to approve a strike with 98% in favor.

Analysts at TD Cowen remain optimistic that a disruption in service won’t occur, but they’re keeping a close watch as talks come down to the wire.

“Talks may come down to a buzzer beater situation, but there is ample time to finalize a deal, and, ultimately, we do not expect a strike to occur,” they wrote in a research note.

But in that August update, Air Canada said that it would give passengers flexibility to rebook their flights should a strike block their scheduled departures. The TD Cowen team notes that the flex window makes up nearly 10% of Air Canada’s capacity for this quarter.

“Our concern is that customers book-away and AC misses out on higher-yielding close-in traffic,” they wrote. “As such, we lower our [third-quarter profit] to the low end of the guidance range.”