PAL Airlines Pilots Still at the Bargaining Table After More Than Two Years of Company Executives’ Antiunion Behaviour 

Contrary to being named one of Atlantic Canada’s “top employers,” PAL Airlines’ management continues to slow roll the pilots’ negotiations for a first collective agreement. While the pilots first requested to start negotiations in the summer of 2019, actual face-to-face sessions didn’t begin in earnest until January 2020. Since then, the pilots have only been given, on average, two days per month to negotiate a complex contract with their employer. Most other airline management teams commit to blocks of four or five days per week, often with two such sessions per month. Those more enlightened management teams understand the value in securing necessary agreements with their employees to bring stability to their workforces. Unfortunately, it is apparent that the senior managers at the PAL Group (which controls PAL Airlines) are purposefully imposing a slower pace, likely in the hope of putting off any contractual increases for as long as possible.

Shareholders at the Exchange Income Corporation, who owns the PAL Group, should be shocked and outraged by this behaviour as delays in bargaining seldom result in savings for a management team. In Canada, it is not uncommon for such delays to result in retroactive backpay liability or signing bonuses.