An Air Canada plane at the Saint John Airport. Image: Submitted/Saint John Airport
Air Canada flight attendants will not be returning to work, despite their strike being declared “unlawful” by the federal labour board.
Around 10,000 workers, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), have been on the picket lines since Saturday.
CUPE National President Mark Hancock said they will continue to support flight attendants until there is a new collective agreement.
“If it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it,” Hancock told reporters on Monday.
“We will not resolve this by taking away the rights of workers who are already struggling to make ends meet.”
Strike declared unlawful
Earlier in the day, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) declared the continued strike activity by Air Canada flight attendants as unlawful.
The board ordered leadership at CUPE to instruct the flight attendants to return to work and directed union members to cease all unlawful activities.
It also wanted the union to issue a public notice to all its members by noon ET on Monday, declaring that it has revoked its authorization for strike activities.
Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu asked the federal labour board to impose binding arbitration and order operations to resume just hours after the strike began on Saturday.
This led Air Canada to plan to resume operations on Sunday, but CUPE’s decision to continue striking led the airline to suspend that plan.
The airline estimates that 500,000 customers’ flights have been cancelled as a result.
“We are sorry that the public is caught up in this. We’re sorry that people are stranded across the globe,” said Hancock.
Probe into unpaid work allegations
Meanwhile, Hajdu has ordered a probe into allegations of unpaid work in the airline sector — one of the key issues in the ongoing strike.
“Nobody should work for free in this country. In fact, we expect to get paid for the work that we perform,” said Hajdu in a social media post.
“If employers are exploiting loopholes in the Canada Labour Code, we’ll close them. Nobody should be expected to work for free.”
Flight attendants with the airline are not currently paid for work they perform before a flight takes off and after deplaning, which is known as ground pay.
Air Canada has offered ground pay at 50 per cent of a flight attendant’s hourly rate, according to CUPE, which is seeking full pay.
