Thousands of WSIB workers enter ‘full' strike mode after being allegedly locked out
Members of the CUPE-affiliated Ontario Compensation Employees Union (OCEU) had planned to be back in office Monday as part of their 'rolling' strike against the WSIB that started last Wednesday when talks between union executives and the employer stalled ahead of the May 21 deadline to reach a new collective agreement.
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CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Uncertainty continues for Sask. travellers caught in Air Canada labour dispute
Saskatchewan Air Canada passengers continued to face uncertainty and confusion on Sunday as more flights out of Regina and Saskatoon were cancelled. Air Canada announced it was suspending plans to restart operations across the country on Sunday night after the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) directed its flight attendants to defy the return-to-work order put in place by Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu on Saturday. The airline said it now plans to resume flight operations on Monday night. In Ontario on Saturday, passengers who had received notice that their flights were cancelled still showed up to Toronto Pearson International Airport in search of information from Air Canada about alternative options. Tanya Baron said while fighting back tears that her family was trying to get home to Saskatoon and airline staff had yet to provide them with rebooking options and gave her the runaround. "They send us here, they send us there. They tell us to call a number, where no human ever answers. I get hung up on. They tell us to check the website. There's just no flights and no way to get home," Baron said at Pearson Airport. 'Sympathy for both parties,' says passenger At the Regina International Airport, an Air Canada Jazz flight that operates under a different contract not affected by the strike did leave for Vancouver on Sunday afternoon. Greg Stoll, who was on the Vancouver flight, said he understood the concerns of the flight attendants but the country's largest airline can't be paralyzed by an extended strike. "I have sympathy for both parties," he said. "I can understand some of their needs, and ones of the union, but in the same token I understand the importance of having a national airline. "I'm OK with them going back to work as long as they continue talking and have a good contract at the end of the day." Becky Hoffart, whose sister was also on the Vancouver-bound flight, said her own experiences with unions as a nurse made her sympathetic to the flight attendants, and the politics of striking. "I support the union, but it's also a shame that it has to come to this and that they weren't able to resolve it before it did," she said. "They deserve a living wage and they deserve to be paid for their time. "If they are able to get a contract, it's worth it. If it's not, it's just super frustrating that the employer can't cough up some cash."
CTV News
6 hours ago
- CTV News
‘They're seeing the dirty little secret': Air Canada strike leaves Calgary travelers struggling to make connections as union pushes back
A large, vocal protest was held at Calgary International Airport as Air Canada flight attendants pushed back against a government ordered return to work mandate. Following hours of demonstrations and hundreds of cancelled flights, federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu ordered operations to resume and for the union's prior collective agreement to be extended until binding arbitration could determine a final outcome of the dispute. CUPE in a Saturday afternoon statement described the move as 'cav(ing) to corporate pressure,' accusing the Mark Carney government of dealing 'incalculable damage to the Charter and workers' rights.' Sunday morning, the union said it wasn't going back to work. In Calgary, Brittany Thomas, the president of CUPE Local 49, was blunt about her union's next steps. "We are staying on strike. As of now," she said. 'We believe that we have that right. We are not obligated to return to work.' After initially announcing that flights would resume Sunday, Air Canada issued an update, saying that flights would now resume Monday evening. Honeymoon At the airport, Air Canada passengers struggled to make alternative travel plans on short notice. Emma Demers and her new husband Quinn were all set to go on a honeymoon in Cape Cod and New York City, with flights booked in and out of Boston. Demers got a text at 3 a.m. on Sunday saying her flight had been cancelled, but then Quinn told her that the flight attendants were being ordered back to work, just as she was about to try to re-book the trip at around 4 a.m. Emma Demers Emma Demers and her husband don't know if they can go on honeymoon due to the Air Canada strike. (Tyson Fedor, CTV Calgary) 'I think with wedding planning, I've learned that things change, and to be okay with that,' Demers said, 'but just something you look forward to, and then things change--and like, non- refundable hotels, we had a concert booked and things like that.' She said they weren't likely to get on a plane Sunday and they both have to be back at work Aug. 26, leaving very little flexibility to re-book. 'Here we are, just trying to figure out if we can go or not,' Demers said. Deteriorating conditions CUPE's Thomas said work conditions for Air Canada flight attendants have been deteriorating for years, as staffing shrinks and passenger loads increase, creating more unpaid work hours for flight attendants. 'The unpaid work component has, I would say, escalated over the years, the required expectations at work are different than what they used to be, and they have increased,' she said. 'When they reduce the amount of flight attendants we had on board the aircraft, the workload increased and they have squeezed more passengers on board the aircraft,' she said. 'So when an airplane 20 years ago held 120 people, well now it holds 150 and there's less of us on board.' Chaos erupts at Pearson Airport as flight attendants defy Ottawa's back-to-work order 'We used to have four crew members to that amount of people. Now we have three. 'And when you see that there's more medical emergencies, there's more disruptive passengers, there's more luggage, there is so many strains on our time before we leave -- and we don't get paid until the brakes are off and the aircraft pushes back from the airport. 'It can be a very significant amount of time that we can be at work and we are not being paid,' Thomas said. She said the striking attendants are heartened by support they're getting, including from the public. 'I think that the curtain has been pulled back, and we're seeing the real truth,' Thomas added. 'And I think that the general public is seeing the real truth. They're seeing the dirty little secret, the stuff that was never told or explained or clarified -- and now it's out in the open.' Protests continue at Canadian airports after Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu's orders binding arbitration, requiring striking flight attendants to return to work. Air Canada flight attendants picket at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sammy Kogan (Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press) Cancun in 20 hours Elsewhere in the airport, a group of six who were booked to go to Cancun explained their expanded new itinerary. 'We actually were the lucky ones,' said Isaac Kazeil, one of the six travellers. 'We got re-directed. But we're flying to Edmonton first, and we have two hours there, and we're flying to Denver, two hours there, then San Francisco, two hours there -- and then San Francisco to Cancun. 'And we're looking at the flight time, and it's actually like the same flight time from San Francisco to Cancun as Calgary to Cancun, so we have our regular flight, plus, like, all of these other layovers. So it's like almost 20 hours of flying to go to place like five hours away, right?' He said Air Canada picked up the cost of redirecting their flights, which turned out to be around $22,000. '$22,000 is a bit crazy, especially since they're trying to save money with the whole strike stuff going on,' Kazeil said. 'I definitely think, like, (it) makes you not want to go with Air Canada. 'You know, the next time you fly, maybe pick a more secure airline.' On the picket line at Toronto Pearson International Airport Sunday, component president Wesley Lesosky underscored the union's rejection of Hajdu's back-to-work order. 'I sent them back a video of it being ripped up,' Lesosky said. 'Air Canada needs to see that all these people are standing behind their union. Air Canada needs to understand that we need a collective agreement.' With files from CTV's Tyson Fedor, Jermaine Wilson and Charlie Buckley
Ottawa Citizen
8 hours ago
- Ottawa Citizen
Air Canada has suspended return to service until Monday
Article content Air Canada said on Sunday that the CIRB has ordered the terms of the collective agreement between the union and the airline that expired on March 31 be extended until a new agreement is reached. Article content The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents more than 10,000 flight attendants, has accused federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu of caving to Air Canada's demands. Article content CUPE says it is inviting Air Canada back to the table to negotiate a fair deal. Article content The union called for a 'day of action' on Sunday, with demonstrations planned outside of the Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary airports. Article content Natasha Stea, the president of the local 4091 for flight attendants based in Montreal, said the workers supported defying the back-to-work order. Article content 'I want to be very clear, Air Canada is choosing to do this to our passengers, to our company, because we are the face of the company, and they're trying to blame us for all this and getting together with their friends in the government to kind of circumvent all our rights,' she said at a demonstration outside the Toronto airport. Article content Article content She said workers are 'done being abused and exploited.' Article content 'Where you have a multi-billion dollar company that's refusing to pay living wages to their employees, I just don't know.' Article content CUPE originally announced its members were heading to the picket lines after being unable to reach an eleventh-hour deal with the airline, while Air Canada locked out its agents about 30 minutes later due to the strike action. Article content The union has said its main sticking points revolve around wages that have been outpaced by inflation during its previous 10-year contract, along with unpaid labour when planes aren't in the air. Article content Air Canada had previously asked Hajdu to order the parties to enter a binding arbitration process — a power granted to the minister through Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code.
