Air Canada and its pilots were headed for mediation after talks over reversing wage concessions from the airline's 2004 bankruptcy broke off Friday.
Serge Beaulieu, the spokesman for the Air Canada Pilots Association, said he was disappointed with the lack of progress during the discussions.
"We put our proposal forward and they came back and nothing happened," he said. "They decided not to come forward with a counterproposal and broke it off."
Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the two sides couldn't decide what to negotiate on, as the union attempted to broaden the scope of what was set out in the contract.
"We reached an impasse on the scope of what constitutes wages as spelled out in the collective agreement," he said. For instance, Fitzpatrick said, the pilots were requesting to be paid overtime when they worked more than 82 hours a month - a matter the company doesn't view as an hourly wage issue.
The process will now go to a mediator. If that fails, an arbitrator will rule on the matter.
The two sides had begun the talks, aimed at reversing wage concessions agreed to during the airline's bankruptcy proceedings in 2004, on Monday. There is a no strike and no lockout provision, as the pilots' contract doesn't expire until 2009.
The pilots' association claims its members took salary reductions ranging from 15 to 30 percent, and agreed to work-rule changes that resulted in about 300 lost jobs to help the troubled carrier stay afloat.
The association, which represents 3,100 pilots, has pinned part of its argument for wage increases on the fact that Air Canada parent ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. posted a first-quarter profit of $118 million in May.
Air Canada pilot salaries currently range between $45,000 and $190,000 a year.
Air Canada is heading into arbitration with two other unions, the Canadian Auto Workers and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
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