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Calgary Herald

Weary travellers at YYC despite fed intervention in Air Canada labour fight

It was a subdued Saturday morning by the Air Canada counters at the Calgary International Airport. Article content Travellers stood wearily in lines by the counter, baggage in tow while staff ran back-and-forth between the counters with passports in hand. Article content Article content Some had been at the airport for hours, waiting to hear back on cancelled flights and rebooking alternatives. Article content 'We've been here since seven this morning,' Clem Lacoume said. She had travelled to Canada from France with a friend, Emma Sambras, two weeks ago to explore British Columbia and had a flight scheduled home on Saturday. Article content Article content At 12:58 a.m. ET on Saturday, 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants walked off the job on strike, after the airline and the union representing them failed to reach a deal ahead of the deadline. The airline estimated 130,000 customers would be affected for each day of the strike. Article content Article content Patty Hajdu, the federal jobs minister, directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board on Saturday morning to order flight attendants back to work, impose final and binding arbitration and extend the terms of the parties' existing contract until a new one one is determined. Article content However, with several flights already cancelled and travellers urgently attempting to rebook alternatives, it will still take time until flights are back to scheduled routine, according to Adam Danyleko, CEO of Elite Travel Management, a Calgary-based travel agency. Article content 'It takes a while for the routes to get back online,' he said. 'They've already cancelled them so they've got to do a lot of work with the actual individual airport locations to bring the routes back online and to bring the flight attendants back online.' Article content Article content Article content On Saturday morning, more than 100 flight attendants banded at the far end of the airport building, near the departure doors leading to the counters for the U.S. airlines. Article content 'Our members are ready for this,' Brittany Thomas, local vice-president for CUPE Local 495 in Calgary. 'They didn't want it to get to this but they are here because they have to be here. Article content 'There's a lot of community,' she added. 'We have a very strong engagement because we know each other, we're friends, we're tight-knit.' Article content The days leading up to the strike held a lot of 'anxiety and stress,' she said. The last time the airline's flight attendants went on strike was in 1985. Article content Daylen Mitansky, local vice-president of CUPE Local 495, said when he heard the strike was to be official, he cried. 'It's really heartbreaking,' he said. 'We're all sad about the passengers being stranded and it's really hard on a lot of us.