Canada Industrial Relations Board declares Air Canada flight attendant strike illegal

Article content

MONTREAL — Air Canada says the Canada Industrial Relations Board has declared the strike by the company’s 10,000 flight attendants illegal and has ordered the union’s leadership to direct its members to return to work.

In the directive issued Monday, CIRB vice-chairperson Jennifer Webster ordered the union and its officers to end the “unlawful strike.”

“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,” Webster wrote in the decision.

Air Canada’s flight attendants went on strike on Saturday but were ordered back to work after federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu invoked Section 107 of the Labour Code to ask the Canada Industrial Relations Board to send the two sides to binding arbitration and order an end to the job action.

However, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the flight attendants, has ignored the edict and challenged the CIRB order in Federal Court.

The order Monday came as picketers continued to march around the Terminal 1 departure doors at Toronto Pearson International Airport early Monday morning.

Chants reverberated through the sliding doors and into the airport terminal, where passengers approached Air Canada employees to ask about alternatives to their cancelled flights.

Air Canada had intended to restart flights on Sunday, but were prevented by the union’s decision to continue its strike despite the CIRB order. The airline estimated Monday that some 500,000 customers’ flights have been cancelled as a result.

Air Canada also suspended its financial guidance for the third quarter and its full year due to the labour disruption.

A statement from the Canadian Labour Congress late Sunday evening said the “heads of Canada’s unions” met in an emergency session to stand behind Air Canada’s flight attendants.

The group called Hajdu’s intervention an “unconstitutional attack on workers’ rights” and said Canada’s labour groups were unanimously calling on the federal government to withdraw its intervention.

The statement also said labour unions are ready to “co-ordinate a fight back campaign” and promote and co-ordinate financial contributions to assist with legal and other costs related to flight attendants’ decision to defy Hajdu’s order.

“The labour movement is united and standing firm, and we will not allow these Charter-protected rights to be trampled upon,” the statement read.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video