Air Canada is experiencing serious operational meltdowns as a labour showdown with that same Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) continues to unfold. More than 10,000 flight attendants organized by CUPE are workers in the middle of the dispute. They called an end to the strike around 1 a.m. ET, Saturday morning. This then led Air Canada to lock out the flight attendants 30 minutes thereafter—a move that would serve to heighten tensions.
Realizing the confusion government intervention was creating, Patty Hajdu, the Jobs Minister, intervened quickly with that on Saturday. She sent both parties to binding arbitration, emphasizing the impact this strike could have on Canadians and the national economy as a whole.
Just days after Hajdu’s intervention, the Canada Industrial Relations Board sprang into action. Their issued a return to work order for the flight attendants, to go into effect at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday. CUPE responded by filing an application in Federal Court to quash the order. They vow that workers will continue to strike until they win a “fair, negotiated collective agreement.”
The ongoing events have already caused dramatic cancellations and other disruptions. Air Canada had hoped to return to the skies on Sunday before pushing it back to Monday at the end of the day. Nearly 940 flights were canceled as of Sunday, leaving thousands of passengers roaming airports and struggling to recalculate their routes.
CUPE-led demonstrations were held at international airports in Toronto, Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver on Sunday. Unifor has claimed that Hajdu gave in to Air Canada’s wishes and betrayed the workers’ interests.
“The labour movement is united and standing firm, and we will not allow these Charter-protected rights to be trampled upon,” the statement read.
The strike and the circumstances surrounding it have prompted widespread condemnation from multiple labour organizations across Canada. Hajdu’s move is being crucified by a coalition of labour and social justice activists as an “unconstitutional attack on workers’ rights.” This announcement highlights the growing government-labour antagonism.
That same coalition is poised to raise a “fight back campaign” in the wake of that proposal as the battle continues. This illustrates how much worse it could get if we fail to come to an agreement in the near term.
