Air Canada demands compensation from union

TORONTO?? Air Canada filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the union representing its flight attendants Thursday, a day after the federal labor minister blocked a planned strike by union members hours before it was set to begin.

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The airline accused the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 6,800 flight attendants, of increasing its demands in its latest round of bargaining. The Montreal-based airline also said the union misrepresented what its members would accept to ratify a collective agreement.

Air Canada did not specify how much it was seeking.

The flight attendants had planned to strike Thursday but Labor Minister Lisa Raitt referred the dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board on Wednesday, which automatically ends the possibility of a legal strike until the board completes its review.

The strike by flight attendants would have disrupted travel at Canada's biggest air carrier and affected thousands of travelers across the country and abroad.

The flight attendants' union has been negotiating with the Montreal-based airline for months. Union leaders had predicted a revamped offer would be approved but the membership turned it down last Sunday.

The airline said Thursday that it was "business as usual" and flights are on schedule following the government's action to block the strike. However, the union held protests at the airport in Montreal and at Raitt's constituency office just north of Toronto on Thursday.

In Ottawa, Ontario, police were looking for a man who showed up at an Air Canada executive's home Wednesday night with what appeared to be a handgun.

Police said the man did not threaten to kill Duncan Dee, the airline's chief operating officer and its main spokesman during the airline's latest contract dispute, but were looking to talk to the unidentified man.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44889742/ns/travel-news/

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