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Both Air Canada and the union representing its pilots moved to prevent a rogue group of pilots from conducting an illegal job action slated for Friday.

While there is little evidence a significant job action will occur, it was clear Thursday that the group of pilots are angry about the airline’s threats to fire the union’s president and its chairman.

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Given the number of reports received, this has obviously raised some concern — Captain Ed Doyle

The country’s largest carrier said it had received several reports from pilots who had been receiving calls from other pilots — identifying themselves as “Pilot X” — encouraging them to call in sick, or not come to work.

The airline sent a request to the Air Canada Pilots Association late Wednesday asking the union’s chairman, Capt. Jean-Marc Belanger, to step in to prevent a potential illegal job action.

“Given the number of reports received, this has obviously raised some concern,” said Captain Ed Doyle, Air Canada director of flying operations, in the memo to the pilots Thursday. “A ‘sick-out’, whether organized by the association or not, is considered to be a concerted job action, which is illegal.”