"We have reclaimed our voice and our power": Air Canada flight attendants win after defying back to work order

Image via @MarkHancockCUPE on X

In what may prove to be a critical turning point in recent Canadian labour history and militancy, striking Air Canada flight attendants have won a major workplace victory after defying a back to work order that was meant to crush them.

After months of negotiations during which Air Canada management refused any movement on the central issue of unpaid work by the attendants, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) workers went on strike. They were demanding not just wage increases but to be paid for tasks carried out on the ground, such as conducting safety inspections and assisting passengers before boarding and after deplaning.

Astoundingly, they were not being paid for this required and necessary work.

But less than 12 hours into the strike, the Canadian government attempted to immediately stop it when Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code ordering the workers back to work and mandating binding arbitration.

Wesley Lesosky, President of the Air Canada Component of CUPE, said of this, "the Liberals are violating our Charter rights to take job action". He said this was aimed at giving "Air Canada exactly what they want — hours and hours of unpaid labour from underpaid flight attendants, while the company pulls in sky-high profits and extraordinary executive compensation.”

In a move that stunned both the government and Air Canada, the workers refused to go back and continued the job action. Apparently they had no Plan B other than government intervention as the company agreed to meet worker demands very shortly after this.

In a statement August 19, after a tentative agreement was reached, CUPE said:

Flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge have reached a tentative agreement, achieving transformational change for our industry after a historic fight to affirm our Charter rights.

Unpaid work is over.

We have reclaimed our voice and our power.

When our rights were taken away, we stood strong, we fought back — and we secured a tentative agreement that our members can vote on.

The new agreement includes at least one hour of ground pay before each flight.

Worker militancy and resolve carried the day in what should serve as an inspiration to unions in Canada facing future unconstitutional government attacks.