Canada Industrial Relations Board declares Air Canada strike ‘unlawful’

Over the weekend, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) declared the Air Canada flight attendant strike to be unlawful. 

Last week, Air Canada’s flight attendants’ union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), issued a 72-hour strike notice that would take effect on the weekend. 

CUPE and Air Canada were meant to meet at the bargaining table on Friday, August 15th, but the union says that the company was unwilling to negotiate with them.

Instead, Air Canada had the CIRB get involved, who issued a directive to the union members to return to work. 

CUPE defied this directive and directed its members to not return to work and continue the strike, which was initiated at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 16th. 

Since this defiance, CIRB has declared that the strike is illegal, and has ordered CUPE leadership to direct its members to return to work. 

All CUPE members were ordered to return to work by 12 p.m. (EDT) on Monday, August 18th. 

Air Canada estimates that 500,000 customers’ flights have been cancelled as a result of the strike activity by CUPE members. 

CUPE’s position

CUPE says that CIRB and the Liberal government have done “incalculable damage” to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as their workers’ rights by siding with Air Canada. 

Specifically, Canada’s Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu used Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to intervene in the strike on behalf of Air Canada to end the union members’ strike after less than 12 hours, and have now referred the matter to the CIRB for forced arbitration.

“This is not over,” said CUPE National President Mark Hancock. 

“We will continue to fight on the picket lines, on the streets, at the bargaining table, in the courts, and in Parliament, until the injustice of unpaid work is done for good. Workers will win—despite the best effort of the Liberal government and their corporate friends.”

The union and its members have been fighting with Air Canada over wages, work conditions and most notably, the company not paying its flight attendants for all of their time on the job. 

CUPE’s position is that Air Canada could end the abuse of unpaid work but have instead stonewalled negotiations with help from the federal government.

“This is absolutely shameful and a blatant betrayal,” said CUPE National Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick. 

“The government’s decision to intervene on behalf of an already wildly profitable employer, while a predominantly female workforce fights tooth and nail for a path out of poverty, is not just unjust, it’s a disgraceful misuse of power that reeks of systemic bias and corporate favoritism.”

CUPE added that unpaid work is an unfair practice that impacts nearly the entire airline sector. They say this issue doesn’t just affect Air Canada flight attendants, but also other carriers like WestJet and Porter. 

According to recent polling data, 88% of Canadians were in support of the union members’ strike.