Deal ends Air Canada strike

Flights on mainline North American routes were to ramp back up Wednesday.

- BY ROB GILLIES

ANDREJ IVANOV Getty Images r FLIGHT attendants had walked off the job Saturday over pay and other issues.

Air Canada said it will gradually restart operations after reaching an agreement early on Tuesday with the union for 10,000 flight attendants to end a strike that disrupted the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of travelers.

The agreement came after Canada's biggest airline and the union resumed talks late Monday for the first time since the strike began over the weekend, affecting about 130,000 travelers a day at the peak of the summer travel season. Air Canada said flights will start resuming at 4 p.m. ET.

Flight attendants walked off the job early Saturday after turning down the airline's request to enter into government-directed arbitration, which allows a third-party mediator to decide the terms of a new contract.

The union said the agreement will guarantee members pay for work performed while planes are on the ground, resolving one of the major issues that drove the strike.

"Unpaid work is over. We have reclaimed our voice and our power," the union said in a statement. "When our rights were taken away, we stood strong, we fought back — and we secured a tentative agreement that our members can vote on."