Air Canada suspends plan to resume flights as union vows to continue strike

LeMonde

3 days ago

Air Canada on Sunday, August 17, suspended its plan to resume flights over a strike by flight attendants that has effectively shut down the airline and snarled summer travel for its passengers around the world. The announcement came despite the country's industrial relations board ordering an end to the strike by around 10,000 flight attendants, which had prompted the airline to say it would resume flying on Sunday.
"Air Canada... has suspended its plan to resume limited flying by Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge," citing a decision by the union representing the workers to continue with striking, despite the government directive.
"The airline will resume flights as of tomorrow evening," the flag carrier said in a statement.
Earlier, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) "directed Air Canada to resume airline operations and for all Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flight attendants to resume their duties by 14:00 EDT on August 17, 2025," the airline said.
Air Canada cabin crew walked off the job early Saturday after rejecting an updated contract proposal. Hours later, Canada's labor policy minister, Patty Hajdu, invoked a legal provision to halt the strike and force both sides into binding arbitration.
"The directive, under section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, and the CIRB's order, ends the strike at Air Canada that resulted in the suspension of more than 700 flights," the Montreal-based carrier said.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which is representing the workers, sought wage increases as well as to address uncompensated ground work, including during the boarding process.
'Our members will NOT be returning'
In a statement on Sunday, CUPE's Air Canada unit said the strike would continue.
"CUPE National President Mark Hancock made it loud and clear that our members will NOT be returning to work until such time as the government orders Air Canada back to the bargaining table where we can reach an attempted agreement that our members can vote on," it said. "We will not have our rights and protections removed."
The union urged passengers not to go to the airport if they had a ticket for Air Canada or its lower-cost subsidiary Air Canada Rouge.
CUPE earlier slammed the Canadian government's intervention as "rewarding Air Canada's refusal to negotiate fairly by giving them exactly what they wanted," adding, "this sets a terrible precedent."
The union also pointed out that the chairwoman of CIRB, Maryse Tremblay, previously worked as legal counsel for Air Canada. Tremblay's ruling on whether to end the strike was "an almost unthinkable display of conflict-of-interest," the union posted on Facebook.
On Thursday, Air Canada detailed the terms offered to cabin crew, indicating a senior flight attendant would, on average, make CAN$87,000 ($65,000) by 2027. CUPE has described Air Canada's offers as "below inflation (and) below market value."
In a statement issued before the strike began, the Business Council of Canada warned an Air Canada work stoppage would exacerbate the economic pinch already being felt from US President Donald Trump's tariffs.
Canada's flag carrier counts around 130,000 daily passengers and flies directly to 180 cities worldwide.