Air Canada Reaches Contract

Air Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers, which represents the airline’s 3,300 customer agents, reached a tentative contract agreement Monday.

Air Canada, the country’s biggest airline, acknowledged earlier this month it was actively recruiting agents to prepare for a strike, which the the union had threatened for this Friday unless it had a new contract.

The two sides were haggling over wages, benefits and job security. A major stumbling block was a company plan to use more temporary and part-time workers to give it more flexibility.

No details of the proposed deal were released immediately. It will be put to the union membership for ratification.

The collective agreement for the customer agents expired Sept. 30.