Air Canada talks with pilots set for Wednesday MONTREAL (Reuters) =97 Air Canada is set to meet Wednesday with its 3,400=20 mainline pilots to discuss wage and other labor contract concessions the=20 airline is seeking to cut costs, the pilots' union said Monday. Air Canada,= =20 the dominant carrier at home and the 11th-largest in the world, has asked=20 key unions to meet a March 15 deadline for coming up with proposals on how= =20 to chop annual labor costs by C$650 million ($445 million), or 23 %. Air=20 Canada won't discuss its demands, but acknowledges it plans to meet with=20 unions representing pilots, cabin crew, maintenance technicians and others= =20 in the coming weeks. "The March 15 timeline was to communicate the urgency= =20 of getting down to discussions," Air Canada spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur=20 said. Roughly 85 % of Air Canada's work force of 40,000 is represented by=20 six big unions."Our negotiations committee is going to meet with the=20 company starting on Wednesday," Don Johnson, president of the Air Canada=20 Pilots Association, told Reuters. A pressing issue for the pilots is Air Canada's request that they accept a= =20 15 % wage rollback and forego bonuses due in the next few weeks. Johnson said the pilots will know how to respond once they have information= =20 from the Toronto office of Kroll Inc., the risk consulting firm they hired= =20 to examine Air Canada's finances. Kroll began its work Monday and pilots=20 expect to receive the first report on Friday. The due diligence will help=20 pilots determine whether "the issues are as pressing as the company says=20 they are," Johnson said. "Once we see what the magnitude of the problem is,= =20 I'm sure we'll respond in an appropriate manner," he said. At the Air=20 Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which=20 represents the airline's 8,000 flight attendants, the membership has=20 already given up much in its latest collective agreement, president Pam=20 Sachs said. Sachs wrote Air Canada executives, saying that like the pilots= =20 and members of International Union of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, her= =20 union is also considering whether to scrutinize the books to see how the=20 carrier is faring in a tough travel market that has passengers, including=20 those traveling on business, demanding the lowest-priced tickets. "I think it's poor when the employees are the first line of defense. I want= =20 to know a little more about their corporate strategy and what they intend=20 to do," she said. Air Canada has not yet asked the flight attendants to=20 consider wage cuts, Sachs said. "They've hinted at it, but they haven't been specific with us as a group,"= =20 she said. Like the Canadian Auto Workers, which represents ground services= =20 workers, the flight attendants union opposes concessions that go beyond a=20 labor contract ratified in late December. In it, they agreed to work rules= =20 concessions that their union said allowed Air Canada to lower cabin crew=20 costs at its Tango low-fare service and Zip no-frills unit. Air Canada=20 shares rose 1 Canadian cent at C$2.93 Monday. The share price has eroded=20 since late November, when a rally took it above C$6. The stock fell as low= =20 as C$1.80 in the week following the Sept. 11 attacks against the United= States. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.tha.gov.tt/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************