MONTREAL — Air Transat pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), will open a strike centre near YUL as the next step toward a possible strike.

The strike centre will open Dec. 3, at which time the Air Transat Master Executive Council will announce the results of the strike vote. The vote began Nov. 17 and ends today, Dec. 2.

The strike centre will be ALPA’s headquarters for all union operations during a potential pilot strike. It will be used as a call centre and flight- and pilot-tracking centre, and as the gathering point for strike volunteers and equipment should the Air Transat pilots be forced to conduct a legal strike.

The heads up came from ALPA, as the union noted Air Transatʻs pilots are pressing management “for a modern contract following almost a year of unproductive negotiations.”

On Nov. 18, as the conciliation period wrapped up and the two sides entered into the 21-day cooling off period, Air Transat said that from the outset, the airline agreed with the union to undertake a complete overhaul of the collective agreement, “and both parties were aware of the timeframe required to ensure thorough work.”

The 21-day cooling off period ends Dec. 10. The union could give its 72-hour advance notice of a strike on Dec. 7, setting off a chain reaction of pre-emptive flight cancellations in preparation for Dec. 10.