Labour Board declares Air Canada flight attendant strike illegal
Article content
It could be another chaotic day for travellers as the dispute continues. Flight attendants with the Montreal-based airline represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees are expected to remain on the picket lines today as a battle against a federal return-to-work order continues.
Article content
Article content
Article content
Article content
That order came after Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu sent both parties to binding arbitration on Saturday, saying she was intervening in the dispute because of its impact on Canadians and the economy.
Article content
Air Canada said on Sunday that it would push back its plan to get flights back in the air until Monday evening, even though the union said employees will remain on strike until a 'fair, negotiated collective agreement' is reached.
The strike officially began just before 1 a.m. ET on Saturday, and Air Canada locked out flight attendants about 30 minutes later due to the strike action.
Article content
The airline reported roughly 940 flights cancelled Sunday as a result of the work stoppage, and thousands of travellers have been scrambling to salvage their travel plans.
Article content
Article content
On Monday morning, Air Canada suspended its financial guidance for the third quarter and its full year due to the labour disruption.
Article content
In its outlook in July, the airline had said it expected to increase capacity for the third quarter between 3.25 per cent and 3.75 per cent compared with the same quarter last year, while it forecast adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization between $3.2 billion to $3.6 billion for its full year.
Article content
The suspension of its guidance puts that forecast by the airline on hold.
Article content
The dispute has garnered negative attention from labour groups across Canada who are criticizing the Liberal government's decision to order flight attendants back to work.
Article content
A statement from the Canadian Labour Congress late Sunday evening said the 'heads of Canada's unions' met in an emergency session to stand behind Air Canada's flight attendants.
Article content
The group called Hajdu's intervention an 'unconstitutional attack on workers' rights' and said Canada's labour groups were unanimously calling on the federal government to withdraw its intervention.
Article content
The statement also said labour unions are ready to 'co-ordinate a fight back campaign' and promote and co-ordinate financial contributions to assist with the legal and other costs related to flight attendants' decision to defy Hajdu's order.
Article content
'The labour movement is united and standing firm, and we will not allow these Charter-protected rights to be trampled upon,' the statement read.
Article content
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Calgary Herald
26 minutes ago
- Calgary Herald
CUPE responds after Labour Board declares Air Canada flight attendant strike illegal: 'If it means...going to jail, then so be it'
Union leadership said it will continue to support flight attendants on picket lines across the country after the Canada Industrial Relations Board declared the ongoing strike by about 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants unlawful and ordered union leadership to direct members to return to work. Article content During a press conference held Monday from Mississauga, Ont., CUPE national president Mark Hancock said the union would not back down. Article content Article content Article content 'We will not turn our back on these workers,' he said. 'We will do whatever it takes to get them a collective agreement (so) that they can vote on it.' Article content Article content Hancock said the union will continue to support flight attendants on picket lines across the country. Article content 'We're going to stay strong,' he said. 'And if it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it. Article content 'Our members want a solution here, but that solution has to be found at a bargaining table.' Article content Hancock argued the right to strike is a fundamental right protected under the Canadian charter. 'It is an essential part of collective bargaining and for workers to have a say in their collective future. These rights have to mean something,' he said. 'Real negotiations cannot happen if only one side is banking on the government taking away the rights of another party, and that is what has happened here.' Article content Article content The union remains committed to finding a deal, Hancock said. Article content 'We welcome any assistance that helps us find a way to reach a freely negotiated collective agreement– an agreement that our members can ratify,' he said. 'We will not resolve this by taking away the rights of workers who are already struggling to make ends meet.' Article content The press conference came after the Canadian Industrial Relations Board declared that CUPE's strike is unlawful. Article content In a statement issued Monday, Air Canada said the board had ordered union officials to direct its member to return to work. Article content In its ruling, the board ordered CUPE officials to 'immediately cease all activities that declare or authorize an unlawful strike of its members and to direct the members of the bargaining unit to resume the performance of their duties.' Article content The ruling ordered union officials to provide written notice to all members by 12:00 pm EDT on Monday that all members must resume their duties. Article content Air Canada had planned to resume operations of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights on Sunday after those flights were grounded on Saturday due to the labour disruption, but the airline said it was not able to resume operations due to 'CUPE leadership's unlawful strike activities.' Article content
Edmonton Journal
26 minutes ago
- Edmonton Journal
Opinion: Ordering Air Canada workers back to work erodes the middle class
Article content Why should Canadians care about any of this? Put simply, they should care because the middle class is not a naturally occurring phenomenon. It depends on rules and legal frameworks that give workers bargaining power. And the key to working bargaining power is the right to strike. Without it, corporations and the rich will gobble up ever larger pieces of the economic pie and workers will only be left with crumbs. Article content Defending worker bargaining power is particularly urgent in the context of the current affordability crisis. No political party or government can legitimately say that they're on the side of working people if they don't have a plan to maintain or expand worker bargaining power. If they're doing the reverse — as is the case with Section 107 — then they're part of the problem, not the solution. Article content The fear among Canadian unions and workers is that if the Liberals get away with watering down the right to strike at the federal level (which has legislative responsibility for about 10 per cent of Canadian workplaces) it will only be a matter of time before provincial governments draft their own versions of Section 107 for provincially regulated workplaces. Article content Article content Workers and unions see this as an existential threat to the post-Second World War 'Great Compromise' which saw workers agree to swear off wildcat strikes in exchange for a regulated system of labour relations that promised fair outcomes for both workers and employers. This compromise was instrumental in building the broadly shared prosperity that helped create the Canadian middle class. Article content This is why Air Canada workers are defying the back-to-work order — and why others are promising to follow suit. If the system created by the Great Compromise no longer can be counted on to deliver fair outcomes for workers, why should workers respect it? Article content Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hadju says she's using Section 107 to secure 'labour peace.' The irony is that the continued use of this section in ways it was never intended is bringing about the opposite: the potential collapse of the Great Compromise. As workers from that era famously chanted from their wildcat picket lines: 'No justice, no peace.' Article content Article content If Prime Minister Carney really wants labour peace — and if he doesn't want to go down in history as the prime minister who weakened worker bargaining power at the worst possible time — then he needs to rescind the back-to-work order for Air Canada flight attendants and repeal Section 107. Article content Now is the time to remember and reinforce the Great Compromise, not abandon it. As the old saying goes: those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. For the sake of the Canadian middle class, let's try to avoid that mistake. Article content
National Post
26 minutes ago
- National Post
Air Canada flight attendants ordered back to work but remain on strike: What's next?
There is chaos in the skies — or more precisely, on the ground — as the labour dispute between Air Canada and its 10,000 flight attendants, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), drags on. Article content On Saturday, the federal government ordered the striking attendants back to work and declared there would be binding arbitration between the two parties by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB). But the union said no, a decision that could end in jail time for its leaders. Here's what to know. Article content Article content Article content 'Air Canada has really refused to bargain with us, and they refused to bargain with us because they knew this government would come in on their white horse and try and save the day,' CUPE national president Mark Hancock said. He said the union felt the 'whole process has been unfair.' Article content On Monday, the CIRB reiterated that the strike by the flight attendants was illegal, and has ordered the union's leadership to direct its members to return to work. The union said it has received National Post's request for comment and will respond soon. Article content Meanwhile, labour experts say this has happened before, but rarely. Article content Sundeep Gokhale, an employment and labour lawyer and partner at Sherrard Kuzz LLP, told CTV News on Monday: 'We haven't seen this type of defiance in quite a long time in terms of an outright refusal despite government orders as well in legal decisions requiring employees to return to work.' Article content Article content In 1978 a strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers was met with back-to-work legislation. When the workers refused, the government arrested the entire CUPW national executive. A month later, a federally appointed judge sentenced union president Jean-Claude Parrot to three months in jail and 18 months' probation for defying Parliament. Article content Article content Hancock seemed aware of the precedent when he told reporters on Monday: 'We will not be returning to the skies. If it means folks like me (are) going to jail, so be it.' Article content In a word, stranded. Air Canada cancelled hundreds of additional flights on Sunday in the wake of the union's response. The airline has said it will do what it can to rebook passengers on other airlines, but this is a busy time of year for flying, and there are limited alternatives available.
