Union leaders representing 10,000 striking flight attendants have said they would be willing to go to jail rather than comply with an order to return to work, as Canada’s federal government seeks to end a bitter contract dispute that has halted hundreds of summer flights and stranded travellers around the world.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees said members would remain on the picket lines as part of a work stoppage that has halted Air Canada’s national and international operations during its busiest season.
“There’s no limit. We’re going to stay strong. We’re going to stay committed to making sure those workers can do the job they love doing and actually be able to afford a roof over their heads, to afford caring for their families,” said Mark Hancock. “And if means folks like me going to jail, then so be it.”
Hancock said members want a solution, “but that solution has to be found at a bargaining table”.
Flight attendants with Air Canada went on strike on Saturday after months of failed negotiations with Canada’s flagship carrier over wages. Ahead of the work stoppage, Air Canada warned that a shutdown could affect 130,000 people a day.
Less than 12 hours after the strike took effect, however, the country’s jobs minister, Patty Hajdu, used her broad powers to impose binding arbitration on both parties – a move the union representing flight attendants decried as unconstitutional.
“The talks broke down,” Hajdu told reporters over the weekend. “It is clear that the parties are not any closer to resolving some of the key issues that remain and they will need help with the arbitrator.”
Air Canada initially said it planned to resume flights on Sunday, but the union said it would defy the government’s back-to-work order and accused the governing Liberal party of trampling on workers’ rights and setting a “terrible” precedent.
“The Liberals have talked out of both sides of their mouths. They said the best place for this is at the bargaining table. They refused to correct this historic injustice through legislation,” Wesley Lesosky, a senior member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said in a statement.
“Now, when we’re at the bargaining table with an obstinate employer, the Liberals are violating our Charter rights to take job action and give Air Canada exactly what they want – hours and hours of unpaid labour from underpaid flight attendants, while the company pulls in sky-high profits and extraordinary executive compensation.”
Following an emergency hearing on Sunday requested by Air Canada, the industrial relations board sided with the federal government and airline.
“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,” according to a directive from the board.
The union said it intends to challenge government-imposed binding arbitration in a federal court.
If they defy the order from the labour board, union heads can be arrested and union members face the prospect of steep fines.
The prime minister, Mark Carney, said it was “disappointing” the stalled negotiations had not yielded a new contract.
“We recognize very much the critical role that flight attendants play in keeping Canadians and their families safe as they travel, comfortable as they travel,” Carney told reporters on Monday. “And it’s important that they’re compensated equitably at all times, fairly at all times.”
On Monday morning, Air Canada said it hoped to resume flights later in the day, but also suspended its financial guidance for the third quarter and its full year due to the shutdown. The strike is expected to cost the airline tens of millions of dollars in lost earnings each day.
