Canada Claims that the Nation’s Economy is Too Fragile for Work Stoppages

Less than 12 hours after Air Canada flight attendants finally walked out on the job, the nation’s regulators have called them back to work and into arbitration. Canadian officials claim that stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers during peak travel season, especially with heightened tariff chaos from the US, is too high a price.

The walkout began around 1 am on August 16 and had already been shut down by mid-afternoon. Air Canada had canceled nearly 700 flights by that point, with more scheduled for suspension, leaving roughly 25,000 Canadians stranded abroad.

Labor Minister Patty Hajdu defended the swift move, saying “Canadians rely on air travel every day, and its importance cannot be understated.” With Ottawa having a long history of ending inconvenient transportation strikes, nearly 45 times since 1950, unions are calling this a violation of their constitutional right to strike.

The union, represented by CUPE’s Wesley Lesosky, accused Prime Minister Trudeau’s Liberal government of siding with Air Canada by refusing to let workers hold the line: “The Liberal government is rewarding Air Canada’s refusal to negotiate fairly by giving them exactly what they wanted.” Air Canada had little to say, except that it could take a week to get flights back to normal... which is hardly reassuring news for travelers stranded.

At the heart of the dispute is pay. The airline pitched a package worth 38 percent more over four years, calling it the best compensation in Canada. The union said the first-year raise—8 percent—doesn’t touch inflation, and raised questions about unpaid duties when planes aren’t flying. Flight attendants also noted that Air Canada’s pilots secured significant raises last year. These troubles led to the nearly unanimous (99.7 percent, to be exact) vote in favor of a strike.

The arbitration order keeps the current agreement in place until a new one is imposed. Passengers can request refunds or try their luck on other airlines, and cabin crew remain on paper, back at work. However, the larger fight over wages and rights is still very much unresolved…just paused until Ottawa decides what “fair” looks like.

FMI: www.aircanada.com