The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that Air Canada pilots have kick-started the bargaining process with their employer in a move that comes days after their fellow union members at WestJet Airlines ratified a new collective agreement. A Canadian Press dispatch to the Post says that representing about 4,500 employees, the Air Line Pilots Association's Air Canada contingent said it has provided a bargaining notice to company management, the first step toward hashing out a new deal. The decision comes two weeks after the pilots' group invoked a clause to end its 10-year collective agreement a year early and launch negotiations for a new one. Key issues include a widening wage gap between Canadian pilots and their U.S. counterparts as well as job security and career progression, said Charlene Hudy, who heads the contingent. "The Air Canada pilots have not been in a meaningful negotiating position since 2014, and in these negotiations we are striving for a historic contract for our Air Canada pilots to address this growing disparity between the United States and Canada," she said in a statement. The current deal will remain in force until Sept. 29 and its provisions will still apply after that date.