Canada

Air Canada's five unions could acquire a 10-per-cent stake in the airline as management tries to repair its strained labour relations, avoid a strike and preserve cash to survive the recession, The Globe and Mail reported. Under a tentative deal signed late Monday, three of five unions agreed to accept shares in exchange for supporting the company's proposal to freeze wages and defer most contributions to the employee pension plan for 21 months.

The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) has requested that EarthFirst Canada Inc., a leading developer of renewable wind energy, voluntarily suspend trading of its common shares and common share warrants on the TSX, Energy Current reported on a company press release. In light of EarthFirst having sought protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, its recently announced conditional sale of the Dokie I Project and Dokie Expansion Project and EarthFirst's obligations to the TSX, EarthFirst's directors have agreed to the trading suspension.

Labour talks between Air Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers have broken off until early next week after the parties hit an impasse over management's request for a moratorium on its pension payments this year, The Calgary Herald reported on a Financial Post story. "It's not the only sticking point, but it's the key sticking point," said Leslie Dias, CAW Local 2002 president. The CAW represents 4,500 sales and service agents at the airline and its current contract is set to expire on Sunday. But Ms. Dias said the talks will continue next week.

The federal government has appointed the judge who oversaw Air Canada's insolvency filing six years ago to mediate the latest pension dispute between the company and its unionized employees, The Canadian Press reported. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, acting on his own initiative, asked James Farley to devise a sustainable path for the airline's pension plan that is acceptable to Air Canada, its unions and its retiree association. Farley, currently in private practice for McCarthy Tetrault, presided over Air Canada's bankruptcy restructuring that began in April 2003 and lasted 18 months.

While General Motors Corp. will almost certainly file for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. on Monday, its Canadian subsidiary should emerge from a massive restructuring process relatively unscathed, The Canadian Press reported. The restructuring, which has already been in the works for months and will cost governments around the world tens of billions of dollars, will see the company that once defined the automobile--and capitalism--in North America emerge a government-controlled shadow of its former self.

Air Canada is in a cash crunch partly because the previous management group "lost the plot" as the economy turned last year. But the company may still be able to avoid a return to bankruptcy protection, provided it can strike a deal with its unions that doesn't increase costs and ensures labour peace, said Robert Milton, chairman and CEO of Air Canada's controlling shareholder, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. Pensions have emerged as the central issue in the talks with pilots, flight attendants and other unionized employees for new contracts.

One of Putnam County's largest employers is seeking protection from its creditors in a Canadian court, LimaOhio.com reported. W.C. Wood Corp., a Canadian manufacturer with a plant in Ottawa, filed a Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act application for protection in the Canadian courts. It has also filed a Chapter 15 application, which assures that any action stemming from the CCAA would also apply to the company's U.S. plant. The action will allow W.C. Wood to hold off creditors while it works on a restructuring plan.

The Canadian government will not move to limit interest rates on credit cards, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Thursday, confirming that new credit card rules in Canada will not be as far-reaching as those just introduced in the United States. Flaherty said the government will not limit credit card interest rates because of a belief "in consumer choice", Reuters reported. Read more.

General Motors Canada has demanded concessions far greater than the Canadian Auto workers granted to Chrysler Canada last month, the union said Friday, as both parties face a looming midnight deadline to reach a cost-cutting labor agreement, The Associated Press reported. The federal and Ontario governments set the deadline for the two sides to agree on a deal to replace a pact that was negotiated in March. The governments have asked the union to give GM Canada the same concessions that it recently gave Chrysler Canada. "It's slow, but we're making progress.

A Quebec company’s financial troubles are no excuse to renege on a new collective agreement provision for early pension, the Quebec Superior Court has ruled, Canadian Employment Law Today reported. Montreal-based forestry and newsprint company AbitibiBowater negotiated a new collective agreement with its union that changed the company’s retirement policy and pension plan. However, Abitibi experienced financial problems after the signing of the new collective agreement and is currently under bankruptcy protection in both Canada and the United States.