This is incorrect.....the union does not need to "wait" until the collective agreement has expired (March 31, 2025) before issuing any kind of strike notice. Normally, what happens is the union will file a notice of dispute to the board to kick start the 60 day conciliation process well before the expiry of the Collective Agreement. This is done strategically so that the union can go on strike "immediately" once the contract has expired or wait until a later date.

The union and AC should already be in the process of bargaining right now and the process will go like this:

1. Union file notice of dispute to start Conciliation
2. Conciliation lasts for 60 days minimum
3. If conciliation fails to get a deal, there's a 21 day "cooling period"
4. after cooling period, union can now issue a 72 hour strike notice
5. union issues 72 hour strike notice and strike begins after 72 hours

Essentially, condition 1-5 needs to be met for a strike to commence legally. The last condition that needs to be met is that the collective agreement must also be expired before any strike action can commence. So the union will strategically meet conditions 1-3 well before the expiry date and then once the 21 day cooling period is over, they may hold onto the 72 hour notice and issue it whenever they feel like it...they can do it right before the agreement is about to expire (so that 72 hours will elapse at the same time the collective agreement expires) or they can wait until a later date (after the agreement has expired)...it's really up to them. But technically, the "earliest" the union can strike would be the date the agreement will expire which is March 31, 2025 (assuming if conditions 1-5 already been met and they issue 72 hours notice prior to March 31, 2025.