Air Canada flight attendants' union says it will risk jail and not return to work as impasse continues

The unification representing thousands of striking transmit Canada flight of stairs attendants says it testament put on the line jail time and fines but will not order its members back to work, despite the federal labour relations board calling the strike illegal.

"We will not be returning to the skies this afternoon," Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) national president Mark Hancock said at a news conference on Monday.

"If it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it."

In a decision released earlier that morning, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) said the union's defiance of a back-to-work order over the weekend is "unlawful."

CUPE president says he'll risk jail time as Air Canada flight attendants defy back-to-work order

It called on the union to "cease all activities that declare or authorize an unlawful strike of its members and to direct the members of the bargaining unit to resume the performance of their duties" by noon Monday — which the union disregarded. 

The directive, written by CIRB vice-chairperson Jennifer Webster, also calls on the some 10,000 flight attendants themselves to resume their duties "immediately."

Failure to comply with the board's orders can result in significant fines and penalties.

Despite that, Hancock made it clear that flight attendants will remain on strike as they seek better pay and changes to how they are paid before a plane takes off. 

"None of us want to be in defiance of the law," he told reporters. "Our members want a solution here. But that solution has to be found at a bargaining table."

Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau called the union's stance "disappointing" on BNN Bloomberg and said the airline hopes to resume service Tuesday.

Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu called on both sides to put "water in their wine" and get back to the table. 

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The Montreal-based company estimates 500,000 customers' flights have been cancelled.

CUPE's national secretary-treasurer Candace Rennick said striking workers feel for those passengers dealing with chaotic travel. 

"We deeply deeply regret the impact this is having on your families and on your lives," she said Monday. "Our fight is not with you. We do not want to be here."

The CIRB ruling comes after a hearing on Sunday and a frazzled weekend for travellers.

Flight attendants walked off the job early Saturday morning, leading to hundreds of flights being grounded. Less than 12 hours after the strike and lockout took effect, Ottawa intervened.

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Hajdu invoked the contentious Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, asking the CIRB to send the two sides to binding arbitration and to order the airline and its flight attendants back to work in the meantime to "maintain or secure industrial peace."

The union said in a statement Sunday that its members would remain on strike, defying the back-to-work order.

CUPE has accused the Liberal government of "rewarding Air Canada's refusal to negotiate fairly by giving them exactly what they wanted." It also pointed to what it called "a staggering conflict of interest" involving the chair of the CIRB, Maryse Tremblay, who according to her LinkedIn profile served as legal counsel for Air Canada from 1998 to 2004.

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Hajdu said it was clear Friday the two sides had reached an impasse.

"I brought all of the parties together in a joint meeting, and I said for the love of the country, let's get a deal," she said.

Hajdu said they needed a "tool" to move forward "and that's exactly what arbitration is." 

On Monday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said it's important that flight attendants are "compensated equitably at all times" and called for a quick resolution. 

"We are in a situation where literally hundreds of thousands of Canadians and visitors to our country are being disrupted by this action," Carney said.

Air Canada and CUPE have been negotiating a new contract for flight attendants after the previous 10-year contract expired in March.

Among the chief sticking points are wages and "ground pay," which covers the work that flight attendants do before a flight takes off and after deplaning.

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According to CUPE, many of those duties, including performing required safety checks and assisting passengers, go unpaid under the current pay structure.

Hajdu said her government is launching an investigation into "deeply disturbing allegations of unpaid work."

"I think we have to understand the extent of this unpaid work," she said. "Should we find that there are loopholes, [we shall] seek the appropriate remedy."

The issue of ground pay is far from new. Both the Conservatives and NDP introduced bills last parliamentary session that would have changed the Labour Code to ensure flight attendants are paid for pre- and post-flight duties. Both bills died when Parliament was dissolved earlier this year.

The union is also seeking a wage increase, arguing flight attendants' pay has been outpaced by inflation.

 Air Canada has argued its proposal would make its flight attendants "the best compensated in Canada."

It has said publicly that its proposal includes an eight per cent increase in hourly wages in the first year, plus another four to eight per cent bump based on a new ground pay formula. 

Under the proposal, the airline says, senior flight attendants would earn $87,000 annually on average by 2027. 

It also said there would be "significant improvements" to health benefits and pension plans.

CIRB is an independent tribunal that hears and decides labour and employment complaints in federally regulated workplaces. It's set up to function like a less formal court.

However, labour unions challenging Section 107 have argued the board has not been acting independently. 

Chris Roberts, director of social and economic policy at the Canadian Labour Congress, said last week that the board is "not simply the stenographer for the government."

The employers' association Federally Regulated Employers – Transportation and Communications (FETCO) criticized CUPE's actions and accused it of "normalizing the idea that if you don't like a decision, you can simply ignore it."

FETCO president Daniel Safayeni called the move "a reckless path that erodes trust in the labour relations system, weakens our global reputation and undermines economic stability at a moment of heightened geopolitical uncertainty."

Reporter

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