According to leaders, Air Canada’s striking flight attendants intend to disobey a government directive ordering them to return to work on Sunday.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees said in a statement that it would be contesting this clearly unlawful decision that infringes upon the Charter rights of 10,000 flight attendants. We’re still on strike. We demand payment for all hours worked and a fair, negotiated contract.
The largest airline in Canada came to a grinding halt at 1 a.m. on Saturday when the flight attendants took to the picket lines. 100,000 potential travelers are now stranded due to the labor stoppage.
The Canadian government stepped in and ordered the contract issue to be arbitrated around 12 hours after the strike started, thereby putting an end to it and allowing everyone to return to work. The union vehemently objected to the arbitration order, which Air Canada management had requested.
Air Canada stated that it anticipated starting flights again on Sunday night following that directive. It was only 37 hours after the strike began that flight attendants were expected to report for duty at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
to enact laws requiring us to return to work twelve hours after we began? Lillian Speedie, vice president of CUPE, apologized to the CBC, saying that snowstorms had caused Air Canada to be shut down for longer than permitted.
Over 700 Air Canada flights have already been canceled, and the company stated that there would be residual delays even if service resumed on Sunday evening.
Payment for services done both before and after planes take off and land has been the union’s main area of contention in contract discussions. In the past, Air Canada flight attendants were solely compensated for the time spent flying their aircraft.
Air Canada referred to the union’s demands as unsustainable and asked the government to step in to break what they dubbed a deadlock in negotiations.
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