1 of 2 | Air Canada’s flight attendants have defied a return-to-work order by the Canadian government. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Air Canada flight attendants continued their strike Monday after an order to return to work by the Canadian government.
A hearing on Sunday by the Canada Industrial Relations Board declared the strike by Air Canada’s 10,000 flight attendants unlawful, and it ordered the leadership of the Canadian Union of Public Employees to tell its members to return to work by noon Monday.
“The members of the union’s bargaining unit are directed to resume the performance of their duties immediately and to refrain from engaging in unlawful strike activities,” the directive, signed by Jennifer Webster, vice-chairperson of the CIRB, said.
The union has defied the order.
CUPE blamed the Liberal Party and Prime Minister Mark Carney for the order.
“The Liberal government under Mark Carney has done incalculable damage to the Charter and workers’ rights by siding with Air Canada to crush the rights of flight attendants at Air Canada,” the union said in a statement.
“This is not over,” CUPE National President Mark Hancock said in a statement. “We will continue to fight on the picket lines, on the streets, at the bargaining table, in the courts, and in Parliament, until the injustice of unpaid work is done for good. Workers will win — despite the best effort of the Liberal government and their corporate friends.”
Air Canada said the union, “illegally directed its flight attendants to defy a direction” from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to return to work.
The carrier said it planned to resume about 240 of its normal 700 flights a day, though it would take seven to 10 days for the schedule to “stabilize.”
More than 130,000 travelers worldwide fly on the airline daily.
The main sticking point is that the airline and union negotiators can’t agree on wages.
Air Canada has offered a pay increase of 17.2% over four years. The union says this does not account for inflation over the past decade and that its members must be fairly compensated for work they do before a plane takes off.
“This is absolutely shameful and a blatant betrayal,” said CUPE National Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick in a statement. “The government’s decision to intervene on behalf of an already wildly profitable employer, while a predominantly female workforce fights tooth and nail for a path out of poverty, is not just unjust, it’s a disgraceful misuse of power that reeks of systemic bias and corporate favoritism.”
The CUPE statement said that the order ensures that there will be no labor peace at Air Canada or “in this industry — because unpaid work is an unfair practice that pervades nearly the entire airline sector. This issue will continue to arise in negotiations between flight attendants and other carriers like WestJet and Porter, who now have no incentive to bargain because they know Mark Carney and the Liberals will bail them out.”
