Air Canada flight attendants will defy a federal order to return to work, the union representing them says, and the airline has abandoned plans to resume flying.
In a video published by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, CUPE national president Mark Hancock is shown ripping up what he says is a paper copy of the order from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board.
“I’m expected to end this strike. That ain’t happening, my friends,” Hancock says.
“I stated pretty clearly when this strike will end … when we get a collective agreement that works for our members.”
Air Canada said on Sunday afternoon it was suspending its plans to restart operations.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
The airline instead said it would aim to resume flights by Monday evening. It accused the union of having “illegally directed its flight attendant members to defy a direction from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board.”
The industrial relations board had said the airline and its flight attendants should resume work by 12pm MT on Sunday, with binding arbitration ordered and the existing collective agreement extended until the arbitrator delivered a new one.
Prior to the union’s announcement, Air Canada had said flights would resume on Sunday evening with a “gradual ramp up over coming days.”
Thousands of flight attendants began strike action first thing Saturday. Jobs minister Patty Hajdu subsequently instructed the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to intervene, get flights back in the air and settle the labour dispute through binding arbitration.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
The flight attendants’ union has said workers are too poorly paid – and not paid at all for many hours of work while aircraft are on the ground. Air Canada has said it was offering “industry leading” ground pay and a 38-percent increase in total compensation over four years.
The Toronto-Yellowknife Air Canada Rouge route is the only Air Canada service to and from the Northwest Territories that is directly affected by the labour dispute.
Late Sunday and early Monday flights between Yellowknife and Toronto were initially scheduled to depart as planned but were cancelled after the union’s announcement.
Flights between Yellowknife and Vancouver or Edmonton are operated by Air Canada Express, whose flight attendants are not part of the same bargaining unit.
CUPE was reported to have said it will now be “challenging this blatantly unconstitutional order” – the minister’s instruction to the labour relations board – “that violates the Charter rights of 10,000 flight attendants.”
“We remain on strike. We demand a fair, negotiated contract and to be compensated for all hours worked,” The Globe and Mail reported a CUPE statement as reading.
