
Air Canada suspends restart plans after union defies return-to-work order
Canada's largest airline now says it will resume flights Monday evening.
Air Canada said in a statement that the union 'illegally directed its flight attendant members to defy a direction from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board'.
'Our members are not going back to work,' Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) national president Mark Hancock said earlier on Sunday outside Toronto's Pearson International Airport.
'We are saying no.'
The federal government did not immediately provide comment on the union refusing to return to work.
Mr Hancock said the 'whole process has been unfair' and said the union would challenge what it called an unconstitutional order.
'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,' he said.
The federal government did not immediately provide comment on the union refusing to return to work.
The country's largest airline had said early on Sunday in a release that the first flights would resume later in the day but that it would take several days before its operations returned to normal.
It said some flights would be cancelled over the next seven to 10 days until the schedule was stabilised.
Less than 12 hours after workers walked off the job, federal jobs minister Patty Hajdu ordered the 10,000 flight attendants back to work, saying now was not the time to take risks with the economy and noting the unprecedented tariffs the US had imposed on Canada.
Ms Hajdu referred the work stoppage to the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
The airline said the Canada Industrial Relations Board had extended the term of the existing collective agreement until a new one was determined by the arbitrator.
The shutdown of Canada's largest airline early on Saturday was impacting about 130,000 people a day.
Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day.
According to numbers from aviation analytics provider Cirium, Air Canada cancelled a total of 494 flights on Sunday morning. This was in addition to the hundreds of flights it cancelled in the previous days.
The bitter contract fight escalated on Friday as the union turned down Air Canada's prior request to enter into government-directed arbitration, which allows a third-party mediator to decide the terms of a new contract.
Air Canada Suspends Plans to Restart Operations after CUPE Defies CIRB Directive to Return to Work: https://t.co/oCfI8tNKx9 pic.twitter.com/RVkeJFEDHe
— Air Canada (@AirCanada) August 17, 2025
Flight attendants walked off the job around 1am Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday.
Around the same time, Air Canada said it would begin locking flight attendants out of airports.
Ms Hajdu said that her Liberal government was not anti-union, saying it was clear the two sides were at an impasse.
Passengers whose flights were impacted would be eligible to request a full refund on the airline's website or mobile app, according to Air Canada.
The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible.
Still, it warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because flights on other airlines were already full 'due to the summer travel peak'.
Air Canada and CUPE have been in contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal. Both sides have said they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes are not in the air.
The airline's latest offer included a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions, over four years, that it said 'would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada'.
But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8% raise in the first year did not go far enough because of inflation.
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an hour ago
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MONTREAL, Aug 18 (Reuters) - A leader of the union on strike against Air Canada ( opens new tab said on Monday he would risk jail time rather than allow cabin crews to be forced back to work by a federal labor board, raising the stakes in a battle that has disrupted flights for hundreds of thousands of travelers during tourist season. The Canadian Union of Public Employees said the strike would continue until the carrier negotiates on wages and unpaid work, even after the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) declared the strike unlawful. "If it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it. We're looking for a solution here," said Mark Hancock, CUPE national president, at a press conference after a deadline by the board to return to work expired with no union action to end the strike. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pleaded for a resolution. 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The carrier, which normally carries 130,000 people daily and is part of the global Star Alliance of airlines, had planned to start ramping up operations on Sunday evening, after CIRB ordered the union to return to work and start binding arbitration. In a message to cabin crew on Sunday seen by Reuters, an Air Canada executive told workers they would be accountable for defying the board's order and not returning to work. "What your union has not explained is that by not returning to work, you are personally accountable for that decision," said Andrew Yiu, vice president, in-flight service, for Air Canada's mainline and low-cost Rouge service. "To be clear, there is no lockout in place, and the continued strike is illegal." The flight attendants, who are pushing for a negotiated contract, are striking for wages similar to those earned by cabin crews at Canadian carrier Air Transat ( opens new tab, and to be fully paid for work on the ground, such as boarding passengers. "I can tell you that if Air Canada thinks that planes will be flying this afternoon, they're sorely mistaken. That won't be happening today," Hancock said. Michael Lynk, professor emeritus of law at Western University in London, Ontario, said there are provisions in the Canada Labour Code that give the board and the court the right to issue fines and sanctions against the union and against individual workers. Crew are mostly paid when planes are moving, sparking demands by unions in the U.S. and Canada to change the model, and generating some vocal support from passengers on social media. While passengers have largely expressed support for the flight attendants, some are growing weary of the uncertainty. Danna Wu, 35, said she and her husband will have no choice but to drive from Winnipeg to Vancouver if the strike persists for a visa appointment. Although she believes Air Canada should pay its attendants more, the master's student at the University of Manitoba added, 'It's not responsible to strike and leave thousands of passengers in such chaos.' Air Canada's demands on unpaid work follow gains recently won by flight attendants in the United States. New labor agreements at American Airlines (AAL.O), opens new tab and Alaska Airlines (ALK.N), opens new tab legally require carriers to start the clock for paying flight attendants when passengers are boarding. The government's options to force an end to the strike include asking courts to enforce the order to return to work and seeking an expedited hearing. The minority government could also try to pass legislation that would need the support of political rivals and approval in both houses of parliament, which are on break until September 15, but has so far been cautious. "The government will be very reticent to be too heavy-handed because in Canada, the Supreme Court has ruled that governments have to be very careful when they take away the right to strike, even for public sector workers that may be deemed essential," said Dionne Pohler, a professor of dispute resolution at Cornell University. The previous Canadian government intervened last year to head off rail and dock strikes that threatened to cripple the economy, but it is highly unusual for a union to defy a CIRB order. 'If you're going to fine us or you're going to try and take us on financially, then you can take us to court, and we can see where that plays out,' said Hancock.