Air Canada flight attendants took their strike into Sunday, defying a government-supported labour board order to resume work. The confrontation not only caused travel trouble for thousands but also laid the groundwork for a high-stakes showdown on workers’ rights versus government power.
Union Pushes Back Against Arbitration
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which has over 10,000 flight attendants, declared that the members will stay on strike until a just contract is reached. The union denounced the order to resume work as unconstitutional, extending an invitation to Air Canada to go back to the negotiating table rather than seeking binding arbitration.
“Federal authorities have commissioned a board to enforce these regulations, and if you violate them, you are basically breaking the law,” cautioned Rafael Gomez, a professor of employment relations at the University of Toronto. Nevertheless, CUPE was obstinate, deeming the ruling as biased.
The criticism mounted when the union charged Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) chairman Maryse Tremblay with a conflict of interest for having served as senior counsel for Air Canada between 1998 and 2004. The union termed her refusal to recuse herself a “staggering conflict of interest.”
Flights Grounded, Passengers Stranded
Air Canada had made preparations to resume operations Sunday night after cancelling about 700 flights the previous day, leaving over 100,000 travellers stranded. Instead, operations were pushed back to Monday night.
There was growing frustration at Toronto Pearson International Airport, where travellers were left in the dark. “We are sort of left to try to figure it out ourselves with no recourse or options being given by Air Canada right now,” said Vancouver traveller Elizabeth Fourney.
Other unions also rallied to the flight attendants’ picket lines in Toronto, displaying solidarity. “They are in support today because they are witnessing our rights being taken away,” said Natasha Stea, a flight attendant and union local president.
Government Faces Pressure to Act
The walkout has placed the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney in a difficult position. On Saturday, Ottawa requested that the CIRB order binding arbitration on behalf of Air Canada in the hopes of ending the stalemate. The action was sharply criticized by unions, who claimed that it undermined collective bargaining clout.
The government is now presented with tough decisions: enforcing the return-to-work order through the courts, requesting an expedited hearing, or bringing in emergency legislation once Parliament returns on September 15. All these would involve political collaboration in a minority government environment.
This is not the first time Ottawa has stepped into big strikes. During the previous administration of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the government intervened to prevent dock and rail strikes. But seldom has a union brazenly defied a CIRB order, so this standoff is a possible watershed in Canada’s labor disputes.
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Core Dispute: Ground Time Pay
At the core of the dispute is the union’s insistence on payment while on ground duty such as boarding passengers and helping between flights. Flight attendants are only paid mostly when the plane is moving, with much of their work going unpaid.
CUPE maintains that this dispute has to be settled through direct bargaining, whereas Air Canada maintains arbitration is the quickest route to stability. On Sunday, the carrier confirmed that the CIRB directed the lapsed collective agreement to continue until a fresh pact is hammered out.
The longer the dispute continues, the more travellers are left in limbo, unions mobilize support for the strikers, and the government struggles to determine how far it needs to go to enforce labor law without undermining workers’ rights.
