Air Canada starts axing flights as strike looms
The Canadian Union of Public Employees says some Air Canada flight attendants are earning less than the minimum wage. Photo: Reuters
Air Canada has started cancelling flights ahead of a possible work stoppage by flight attendants that could impact hundreds of thousands of travellers.
A complete shutdown of the country's largest airline threatens to impact about 130,000 people a day.
The union representing around 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants issued a 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday. In response, the airline issued a lockout notice.
Mark Nasr, chief operations officer, said the airline has begun a gradual suspension of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations.
"All flights will be paused by Saturday early morning," he said.
Nasr said this approach will help facilitate an orderly restart "which under the best circumstances will take a full week to complete".
He said a first set of cancellations involving several dozen flights will impact long-haul overseas trips that were due to depart on Thursday night.
"By tomorrow evening we expect to have cancelled flights affecting over 100,000 customers," Nasr said.
"By the time we get to 1am on Saturday morning we will be completely grounded."
He said a grounding will affect 25,000 Canadians a day abroad who may become stranded. They expect 500 flights to be cancelled by the end of Friday.
He said customers whose flights are cancelled will be eligible for a full refund, and it has also made arrangements with other Canadian and foreign carriers to provide alternative travel options "to the extent possible".
Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, head of human resources for Air Canada, said its latest offer includes a 38 percent increase in total compensation including benefits and pensions over four years.
The union has said its main sticking points revolve around what it calls flight attendants' "poverty wages" and unpaid labour when planes aren't in the air.
Some flight attendants at the airline's news conference on Thursday held up signs that read "Unpaid work won't fly" and "Poverty wages = UnCanadian".
Canadian Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu on Thursday urged the airline and the union to come back to the bargaining table.
In a statement, Hajdu also said Air Canada had asked her to refer the dispute to binding arbitration. She said she had asked the union to respond to this request. (AP/Reuters)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTHK
3 minutes ago
- RTHK
Air Canada flight attendants defy back-to-work order
Air Canada flight attendants defy back-to-work order Passengers walk past demonstrators as Air Canada flight attendants said they will remain on strike and challenge a return-to-work order they called unconstitutional. Photo: Reuters Air Canada's striking flight attendants on Sunday refused a government-backed labour board's order to return to work, forcing the airline to delay restarting its operations and leaving its passengers in limbo. The Canadian Union of Public Employee said the 10,000 Air Canada attendants it represents would remain on strike, calling the order unconstitutional and "designed to protect the airline's profit." Instead, it invited Air Canada - the country's largest airline - back to the table to "negotiate a fair deal." In response, the airline said it would delay plans to restart operations from Sunday until Monday evening. The refusal by the union to obey the order left many travellers at Toronto Pearson International Airport confused and frustrated on Sunday afternoon. Many of them were camped out in airport lounges, uncertain whether when and if flights would resume or whether Air Canada would make tentative arrangements. "We are kind of left to figure it out for ourselves and fend for ourselves with no recourse or options provided by Air Canada at this time," said Elizabeth Fourney of Vancouver. Francesca Tondini, a 50-year-old from Italy, said she was about to return home after visiting Canada when her flight was cancelled on Saturday and again on Sunday. When she asked Air Canada when the flight would finally depart, the airline responded, "maybe tomorrow, maybe Tuesday, maybe Friday, maybe Saturday - they don't know!," she said. The flight attendants began their strike early on Saturday morning, after negotiations that had dragged on for months reached an impasse. In anticipation, the airline canceled most of its 700 daily flights, forcing more than 100,000 travelers to scramble for alternatives. Within hours of the strike declaration, the Canada Industrial Relations Board complied with a request by Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu and ordered binding arbitration. The Canada Labour Code gives the government the power to ask the CIRB to impose such an order in the interest of protecting the economy. Air Canada had encouraged the government to act, while CUPE had pushed for a negotiated solution, saying binding arbitration would take pressure off the airline. It is exceedingly rare for a union to defy a back-to-work order. In 1978, Canadian postal workers refused to comply with back-to-work legislation, resulting in fines and the jailing of their union leader for contempt of Parliament. The government's best option is to go to court to enforce the order and secure a contempt order if the union refused to back down, said Michael Lynk, professor emeritus at Western University's Faculty of Law in London, Ontario. "The union leadership could face the same consequences as what happened 45 years ago. It could be fines against the union... potential of jail time for the union leaders," he said. (Reuters)
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Air Canada flight attendants will continue strike, union says, defying government
Air Canada flight attendants said on Sunday they will remain on strike and spurn a government return-to-work order they called unconstitutional that would send them back to their duties by 2pm local time. The Canadian Union of Public Employees said in a statement that members would remain on strike and invited Air Canada back to the table to 'negotiate a fair deal'. On Saturday, the Canadian government under Prime Minister Mark Carney moved to end a strike by more than 10,000 flight attendants at the country's largest carrier. The Canadian Industrial Relations Board agreed to a government request to order binding arbitration and end the strike to break their contract impasse, an action Air Canada had sought but unionised flight attendants fiercely opposed. The Canada Labour Code gives the government the power to ask the CIRB to impose binding arbitration in the interest of protecting the economy. The government, under former prime minister Justin Trudeau , intervened last year to head off rail and dock strikes that threatened to cripple the economy, but it is unusual for a union to defy a CIRB order. Air Canada had said it planned to resume flights on Sunday evening, following the expected end of the strike that caused the suspension of around 700 daily flights on Saturday, stranding more than 100,000 passengers.
The Standard
16 hours ago
- The Standard
Canadian government moves to end Air Canada strike, seeks binding arbitration
Demonstrators hold placards on the day the strike begins, after the union representing more than 10,000 of Air Canada's flight attendants failed to reach an agreement with the airline, at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, August 16, 2025. REUTERS/Chris Helgren REFILE - QUALITY REPEAT
