The Government of Canada ordered on Saturday, 16, that Air Canada and its strike flight attendants should return to work after a stoppage that left over 100,000 passengers around the world without air transport during the high season of summer travel in the northern hemisphere. The government has also decided that the company and its employees should resort to an arbitration process.
The Minister of Labor, Patty Hajdu, said that now is not the time to take risks in the economy, highlighting the unprecedented tariffs that the United States imposed on Canada. With the decision, the 10,000 flight attendants will return to work soon.
Read more:
Unique opportunity
Legacy Card: Far beyond a service
The government action occurred less than 12 hours after the workers went on strike. “Negotiations have failed. It is clear that the parties are no longer close to resolving some of the key issues that will remain and will need a referee’s help,” said Hajdu.
Unionist Wesley Lesesky, representative of the category, accused the government of violating the constitutional right of flight attendants of strike and criticized Hajdu for intervening within hours. “The liberal government is rewarding Air Canada’s refusal to negotiate fairly, giving them exactly what they wanted,” said Lesesky.
Air Canada did not make additional comments on Saturday afternoon. The company’s director of operations, Mark Nasr, said earlier that it could take up to a week to completely restart operations. Passengers are likely to continue to face interruptions in the coming days.
