Air Canada said it hopes to begin resuming operations this evening after 10,000 striking flight attendants were ordered back to work on Saturday. But that’s not a given. The union for the flight attendants, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said it will defy the federal back-to-work order.
Air Canada said on Sunday that it would resume operations that day with about 240 flights. That was after the federal government ordered an end to the strike Saturday, less than 12 hours after it began. But the flight attendants had other ideas.
Picket lines went up at major airports across the country, including Toronto, as the flight attendants defied the back-to-work order. The strike began a day earlier at 1 a.m. Saturday. But just hours later, as hundreds of flights were grounded, Canada’s jobs minister, Patty Hajdu, put an end to the strike, sending the dispute to binding arbitration.
“This is not a decision that I’ve taken lightly. But the potential for immediate negative impact on Canadians and our economy is simply too great. Labour disruption impedes the movement of passengers and critical cargo. Canadians rely on air travel every day and its importance cannot be understated,” Hajdu said. “Now is not the time to take risks with our economy. A work stoppage would cause thousands of Canadians to be stranded abroad and across this country and this is simply unacceptable.”
That argument is supported by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Here’s Senior Vice President Matthew Holmes.
“People don’t realize how much cargo Air Canada actually carries in and out of the country for us. That really puts our economic activity. And it’s very serious for the economy,” Holmes said. “So, the best decision if the two parties aren’t talking is to put them in front of a fair arbitrator who can find a deal that will be good for both sides.”
The union insists that the strike was necessary because of low wages and no pay for unpaid work hours. Wesley Lesosky is with the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
“We would rather be earning a paycheck than walking a picket line. No one should accept being forced to work for free for hours and hours every day. No one should accept being forced to work for poverty wages for years in a profession just to earn a dignified living. That’s what this is about. In Canada, in 2025, no one should be treated this way,” Lesosky said.
Meanwhile, thousands of travelers have had to scramble to make alternative arrangements. Gabor Lukacs is a passenger rights advocate. He said passengers should not accept refunds from Air Canada but hold the airline to finding other flights on other airlines.
“Air Canada has been trying to pull the wool over the public’s eyes by claiming there are no seats available on flights of competitor airlines. In fact, in many cases, passengers found that seats were in fact available, just at a higher price,” Lukacs said. Air Canada has been trying to falsely tell people there are no other flights available and push refunds on them in an effort to dissuade passengers from exercising their right to alternate transportation.
As the labor turbulence at Air Canada continues, the airline is pushing to restart operations this evening, and it would take seven to ten days for full operations to stabilize. But the airline couldn’t say how that would happen if the flight attendants continued their walkout in defiance of the back-to-work order.
