The Canadian government has moved to end the Air Canada flight attendants’ strike, invoking its authority to force binding arbitration after thousands of cabin crew members walked off the job on Saturday.
Canadian Government Moves To End Air Canada Strike, Force Binding Arbitration On Flight Attendants
Patty Hajdu, Canada’s Minister of Jobs and Families, announced that she had asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order an immediate end to the strike and require both sides to resolve their differences through arbitration.
“This is not a decision that I’ve taken lightly, but the potential for immediate negative impact on Canadians and our economy is simply too great.”
The strike began when negotiations broke down between Air Canada and its 10,000 flight attendants represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). The walkout led to the cancellation of nearly all of Air Canada’s 700 daily flights, stranding more than 100,000 passengers at the peak of the summer travel season.
At the center of the dispute is beating inflation and compensation for ground-based duties, such as boarding and deplaning, which are currently unpaid. CUPE rejected Air Canada’s most recent offer, which the carrier said would raise overall compensation by 38% over four years.
Air Canada welcomed the government’s intervention and said it would work quickly to resume normal operations. The airline estimated it could take four to five days before schedules fully recover once crews are ordered back to work.
Businesses applauded the move, citing the strike’s impact on travel, cargo, and the broader economy. The union, however, criticized the decision, contending that binding arbitration weakens its bargaining power and unfairly tilts the process toward the airline.
Passengers are advised not to head to airports unless they have confirmed travel plans. Air Canada is offering refunds or rebooking options, though availability remains limited until flights are restored. Several Live And Let’s Fly readers have shared of their frustration of being stranded without options.
The Heart Of The Battle Between Air Canada And Its Cabin Crew
As you might imagine, both sides come at this issue from a very different angle. Let’s look at statements from both sides, as they seek to spin the narrative in their favor.
Union: End The Historic Abuse Of Unpaid Work
CUPE union president Wesley Lesosky claims that flight attendants make poverty wages and have been abused by Air Canada for too long:
After nine months of the company delaying at the bargaining table on the fundamental issues – unpaid work and poverty wages – the union asked for and received an unprecedented 99.7% strike mandate from its membership. Flight attendants turned out by the hundreds at airports across the country for a powerful showing of solidarity for their August 11 Day of Action.
Air Canada has seen how determined and united flight attendants are to end unpaid work and win a real cost-of-living increase to wages.
Now, Air Canada has decided they no longer want to negotiate. They want to go to arbitration, rather than stay at the bargaining table and bargain a new contract.
Everyone knows the best deals are negotiated at the bargaining table, not handed down by an outside third-party. Then why does Air Canada want the union to agree to arbitration?
First, arbitrators rely on precedent and the status quo to make their determinations. But Air Canada flight attendants are trying to break the status quo by ending the historic abuse of unpaid work in this industry. Air Canada wants an arbitrator to do their dirty work for them to keep the status quo intact.
Second, an arbitrator’s determination would be final. Members would not get a chance to vote on it. Air Canada wants to go to arbitration because they want to take away our members’ democratic voice.
The union has declined the company’s proposal to preserve the exploitative status quo and take away our members’ voice.
The Air Canada Component of CUPE remains at the bargaining table, ready to negotiate.
We have always been available to negotiate. The union was available to continue discussions while it sought a strike mandate – the company never reached out.
Citing profits from Air Canada, the union says junior flight attendants would still make below federal minimum wage under Air Canada’s latest proposal:
Meanwhile, on wages, Air Canada’s offer is below market value, below inflation, and below minimum wage.
- Air Canada has offered 8% in the first year as a one-time catch-up. Meanwhile, flight attendants have taken a 9% cut to their real wages due to inflation over the course of their last contract since 2015. This offer does not even keep up with inflation – it is, in effect, a pay cut. Air Canada’s offer is below inflation.
- Air Canada is using misleading “kitchen-sink” figures to make the public believe that flight attendants who rely on food banks and second and third jobs are the ones being greedy. In reality, the company has offered a 17.2% wage increase over four years. Even in year four of Air Canada’s offer, in 2028, Air Canada flight attendants would earn less than competitor airlines in Canada earn today. Air Canada’s offer is below market value.
- Even with the “best offer” that Air Canada can make, an entry-level Air Canada flight attendant working full-time will still earn less than federal minimum wage. Junior Air Canada flight attendants working full-time (75 credit hours per month) currently earn $1,952 per month pre-taxes. With Air Canada’s first-year catch-up increase of 8%, their earnings would increase to $2,108.16 per month. Meanwhile, a worker earning federal minimum wage at $17.75 per hour would earn $2,840.00 per month pre-taxes. Air Canada’s offer is below minimum wage.
Air Canada has posted billions in profits in recent years. They can afford to pay flight attendants fairly without raising costs for the public.
In 2024, Air Canada reported a profit of $1.1 billion USD, with an operating margin of 5.7%.
Air Canada: Disappointing Conduct Of Union Puts Canadian Economy At Risk
Meanwhile, Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau blames the union for negotiating in good faith:
We regret the impact a disruption will have on our customers, our stakeholders and the communities we serve. However, the disappointing conduct of CUPE’s negotiators and the union’s stated intention to launch a strike puts us in a position where our only responsible course of action is to provide certainty by implementing an orderly suspension of Air Canada’s and Air Canada Rouge’s operations through a lockout. As we have seen elsewhere in our industry with other labour disruptions, unplanned or uncontrolled shutdowns, such as we are now at risk of through a strike, can create chaos for travellers that is far, far worse.
Our latest offer included a 38 per cent increase in total compensation over four years that would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada, along with provisions for ground pay and other work-life balance, career and pension improvements. At the same time, we asked for no concessions from the union. Given this, while we remain available for discussions with CUPE, we have requested government-directed arbitration as we now view it as the only certain avenue to bring closure to bargaining and mitigate the impact on travellers, business and the Canadian economy.
The government’s push for mandatory arbitration hands Air Canada a huge win.
CONCLUSION
Ottawa’s decision to impose binding arbitration is intended to bring an immediate end to a disruptive strike, but the underlying dispute over pay and working conditions remains unresolved. How the arbitration panel rules will shape the future of Air Canada’s labor relations in the months and years ahead. The latest news is a victory for Air Canada, but there’s still a long way to go before normal operations resume and a new deal is imposed on flight attendants.
image: Air Canada
This is pretty bad news. In echos of United, there’s a profitable airline that’s screwing over their flight attendants who just want to not be financially left behind in the dust while their airline laughs all the way to the bank. The difference was that Air Canada flight attendants could strike without having to go through an insanely difficult process. Now that’s taken away from them too.
We agree on many things, but I’m just not sure about this. Junior FAs are paid too little but are are senior FAs paid too much? And if the position always has a huge imbalance between supply and demand of positions, isn’t it not unreasonable that wages are going to be comparatively lower?
Where I think we agree is that no full time worker should be make so little that they must rely on government support for survival.
Matthew, I think you are out of touch on this one. They are asking to be compensated on work preformed pre and post boarding, which they should be. Also FA’s are not paid a living wage, you can only make it as an FA if you are living at home, paying no rent or have a partner subsidizing your lack of income. No one can live in Vancouver anymore, I know pilots who sleep in the vans at the airport or live with parents.
I disagree that everyone who works full time must rely on government support. First of all, it is up to the government to decide what is the level of earnings before support is warranted. Another point is should everyone working full time be entitled to a moderate standard of living?
I would say “no”. Why not pay people to direct traffic at every intersection? If you are such a traffic director, are you entitled for an apartment in the city, food, and other benefits? No. There is such thing as a traffic light.
Why not have concierges that greet you at the airport, help you with your bags, and then accompany you through security and the gate? What if those people had to be paid a living wage? Impossible unless fares were higher. If they were paid less than a living wage, maybe some airlines would have them.
Yes Matthew, senior FA are paid too much. They do the same work as junior FA. After a year of seniority, a FA works at a high level of proficiency, maybe as high as they will ever go. Well, maybe the senior FA will know the layout of a few more airports.
The crankiest and laziest FA are often the senior ones. I can see seniority resulting in priority in selecting routes but not pay, other than the first year or so.
That is a different issue than compensation, and I agree regarding senior FAs providing not adequate service. The most lucrative business class routes are often served by senior FA who are no longer service oriented. Everyone needs to make a livable wage however Airline unions must do a better job ensuring rewarding FAs who excel at their position vs seniority.
This is an example of how the Canadian government is a dictatorship, not a democracy. They are very heavy handed. They bully people all the time with no recourse. In the U.S., the Democrats have a say in the Senate by a filibuster so only limited legislation can come out if they oppose the ruling Republican Party. In Canada, the opposition party has no say. The ruling party is a limited dictatorship in that they have free reign to be a dictator for 5 years until the next election.
Another example is how, without any debate, the dictatorial party just legalized marijuana at the drop of the hat. They also banned the sale of houses to Americans, something that Trump is probably unaware of. In the Air Canada case, the strike is new and the dictatorship of Canada just bullies the flight attendants back to work.
What Canada should do is to temporarily lift cabotage rules so that Canadians can buy a ticket from one Canadian city to another via a US hub if they think Air Canada’s strike affects too many routes.
Note that the flag of Canada and Nazi Germany share the same color, mostly red.
Unions are a scourge unto this earth.
Obviously as a pilot I’m sympathetic to labor. But I would hope everyone would be sympathetic to the idea of employees being required by their government to work for wages and rules that they have not agreed to. Just like the probable rail strike in the US where you had companies making billions in profits who claimed that they could not afford union demands and got the government to give them what they wanted. In this case we again have government stepping into serve the companies interests.
In my view when a strike happens that creates an unacceptable burden on the country then the balance of the burden should fall on the company. Only when companies know that a strike will end badly for them are they compelled to negotiate fairly. If they know they can depend on the government to force the union to accept their terms (as happened in the US with the rail roads) then they have no incentive to negotiate fairly.
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand digs into to true value of labor. I encourage everyone to read it. It began with a railroad strike and argues the philosophical differences on dealing with many issues we face today.