\n<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s industrial relations board has declared a strike by 10,000 flight attendants illegal and ordered them back to work as the federal government seeks to end a bitter contract dispute that has halted hundreds of summer flights and stranded travellers around the world.<\/p>\n
Flight attendants with Air Canada went on strike on Saturday after months of failed negotiations with Canada\u2019s flagship carrier over wages. Ahead of the work stoppage, Air Canada warned that a shutdown could affect 130,000 people a day.<\/p>\n
Less than 12 hours after the strike took effect, however, the country\u2019s jobs minister, Patty Hajdu, used her broad powers to impose binding arbitration on both parties \u2013 a move the union representing flight attendants decried as unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe talks broke down,\u201d Hajdu told reporters over the weekend. \u201cIt is clear that the parties are not any closer to resolving some of the key issues that remain and they will need help with the arbitrator.\u201d<\/p>\n
Air Canada initially said it planned to resume flights on Sunday, but the union said it would defy the government\u2019s back-to-work order and accused the governing Liberal party of trampling on workers\u2019 rights and setting a \u201cterrible\u201d precedent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Liberals have talked out of both sides of their mouths. They said the best place for this is at the bargaining table. They refused to correct this historic injustice through legislation,\u201d Wesley Lesosky, a senior member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, when we\u2019re at the bargaining table with an obstinate employer, the Liberals are violating our Charter rights to take job action and give Air Canada exactly what they want \u2013 hours and hours of unpaid labour from underpaid flight attendants, while the company pulls in sky-high profits and extraordinary executive compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following an emergency hearing on Sunday requested by Air Canada, the industrial relations board sided with the federal government and airline.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe members of the union\u2019s bargaining unit are directed to resume the performance of their duties immediately and to refrain from engaging in unlawful strike activities,\u201d according to a directive from the board.<\/p>\n
The union has not yet responded publicly to the order, but said it intends to challenge government-imposed binding arbitration in a federal court.<\/p>\n
If they defy the order from the labour board, union heads can be arrested and union members face the prospect of steep fines.<\/p>\n
The prime minister, Mark Carney, said it was \u201cdisappointing\u201d the stalled negotiations had not yielded a new contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognize very much the critical role that flight attendants play in keeping Canadians and their families safe as they travel, comfortable as they travel,\u201d Carney told reporters on Monday. \u201cAnd it\u2019s important that they\u2019re compensated equitably at all times, fairly at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday morning, Air Canada said it hoped to resume flights later in the day, but also suspended its financial guidance for the third quarter and its full year due to the shutdown. The strike is expected to cost the airline tens of millions of dollars in lost earnings each day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Canada\u2019s industrial relations board has declared a strike by 10,000 flight attendants illegal and ordered them back to work as the federal government seeks to end a bitter contract dispute that has halted hundreds of summer flights and stranded travellers around the world. Flight attendants with Air Canada went on strike on Saturday after months<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[361,9789,1286,318,182,408,912,407,1349],"class_list":{"0":"post-16450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-air","9":"tag-attendants","10":"tag-board","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-flight","13":"tag-illegal","14":"tag-industrial","15":"tag-ruled","16":"tag-strike"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}