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TORONTO (AP) – Air Canada said it had suspended plans to resume operations on Sunday after the union representing 10,000 flight attendants said it would ignore a return to the work order. The strike had already affected around 130,000 travelers worldwide per day during the peak summer travel season.
Canada’s Labor and Management Committee said that after the government intervened, airline staff will return to work by 2pm on Sunday, with Canada scheduled to resume flights on Sunday evening.
Canada’s largest airline said it will resume flights Monday evening. Air Canada said in a statement that the union “illegally instructed flight attendants to ignore instructions from the Canadian Labor and Management Relations Commission.”
“Our members are not returning to work,” Mark Hancock, National President of the Canadian Civil Service Union, said outside Pearson International Airport in Toronto. “We say no.”
The federal government did not immediately provide comment from unions that refused to return to work.
Hancock said “the whole process was unfair,” and that the union would challenge what is called an unconstitutional order.
“Air Canada really refuses to negotiate with us and they refuse to negotiate with us because they know this government is coming to the white horses and are trying to save the day,” he said.
The country’s biggest airline said earlier on Sunday in its release that first flights would resume later that day, but it would take several days for operations to return to normal. He said some flights will be cancelled in the next 7-10 days until schedules stabilize.
Less than 12 hours after workers left work, Federal Employment Minister Patty Hajidu ordered 10,000 flight attendants to be returned to work, saying it is not the time to take risks on the economy, nor the time to focus on the unprecedented tariffs the US has imposed on Canada. Hajdu introduced the suspension of work to the Canadian Labor and Management Committee.
The airline said the CIRB has extended the period of existing collective agreements until the new agreement is decided by the arbitrator.
Earlier on Saturday, Canada’s largest airline closure affected around 130,000 people a day. Air Canada operates approximately 700 flights per day.
The flight attendants finished work on a Saturday around 1am. Around the same time, Air Canada said it would begin locking flight attendants from the airport.
The fierce contract battle escalated on Friday. The union declined prior requests to enter into arbitration led by the Air Canada government, allowing third-party mediators to determine the terms of the new contract.
Last year, the government forced the country’s two major railways to arbitrate with trade unions while it was suspended. The railway workers’ union is suing, claiming that the government is removing union leverage in negotiations.
Canada’s Business Council had urged the government to impose binding arbitration in this case as well. And the Canadian Chamber of Commerce welcomed the intervention.
Hajidu claimed that her liberal government is not anti-union and that it is clear that both parties are at a dead end.
According to Air Canada, passengers affected by the flight are eligible to request a full refund on the airline’s website or on the mobile app.
The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines where possible. Still, they warned that flights with other airlines are already full “due to the peak of summer travel,” and therefore cannot guarantee immediate rebooking.
Air Canada and Cupe have been giving contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal. Both sides say they are far away about pay issues, and unpaid workers that flight attendants do when the plane is not in the air.
The airline’s latest offer includes a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions over four years, and said it would have “been the best compensation in Canada.”
However, the union pushed back saying that the 8% salary increases proposed in the first year were not progressing well due to inflation.
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