Canada's government forced Air Canada and its striking flight attendants back to work and into arbitration Saturday after a work stoppage stranded more than 100,000 travelers around the world during the peak summer travel season.
Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said now is not the time to take risks with the economy, noting the unprecedented tariffs the U.S. has imposed on Canada. The intervention means the 10,000 flight attendants will return to work soon.
The government's action came less than 12 hours after workers walked off the job.
"The talks broke down. It 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," Hajdu said.
Hajdu said the full resumption of services could take days, noting it is up to the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
Existing agreement will stay in place through arbitration
The shutdown of Canada's largest airline early Saturday is impacting about 130,000 people a day, and some 25,000 Canadians may be stranded. Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day.
Hajdu ordered the Canada Industrial Relations Board to extend the term of the existing collective agreement until a new one is determined by the arbitrator.
"Canadians rely on air travel every day, and its importance cannot be understated," she said.
Wesley Lesosky, president of the Air Canada Component of CUPE union, complained in a statement that Hajdu only waited a few hours to intervene and said the government has violated their constitutional right to strike.
"The Liberal government is rewarding Air Canada's refusal to negotiate fairly by giving them exactly what they wanted," he said.
Union spokesman Hugh Pouliot didn't immediately know what day workers would return to work. "We're on the picket lines until further notice," he said.
The bitter contract fight between the airline and the union representing 10,000 of its flight attendants escalated Friday as the union turned down the airline's request to enter into government-directed arbitration, which would eliminate its right to strike and allow a third-party mediator to decide the terms of a new contract.
Keelin Pringnitz, from Ottawa, was returning with her family from a European vacation when they became stranded at London's Heathrow Airport after flights were canceled. She said there was an option for the travelers in line to go the United States, but they were told there wouldn't be any further assistance once they landed in the U.S.
"It didn't go over well with the line. Nobody really seemed interested, everybody seemed a little bit amused almost at the suggestion, or exasperated, because it is a bit ridiculous to offer to take stranded passengers to a different country to strand them there," she said.
Montreal resident Alex Laroche, 21, and his girlfriend had been saving since Christmas for their European vacation. Now their $8,000 trip with nonrefundable lodging is in doubt. They had a Saturday night flight to Nice, France, booked.
Air Canada Chief Operating Officer Mark Nasr has said it could take up to a week to fully restart operations.
'Such little progress has been made'
Flight attendants walked off the job around 1 a.m. EDT on Saturday. Around the same time, Air Canada said it would begin locking flight attendants out of airports.
Ian Lee, associate professor, Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, earlier noted the government repeatedly intervenes in transportation strikes.
"They will intervene to bring the strike to an end. Why? Because it has happened 45 times from 1950 until now," Lee said. "It is all because of the incredible dependency of Canadians."
Canada is the second-largest country in the world and flying is often the only viable option.
"We're so huge a country and it's so disruptive when there is a strike of any kind in transportation," Lee said.
The government forced the country's two major railroads into arbitration with their labor union last year during a work stoppage. The union for the rail workers is suing, arguing the government is removing a union's leverage in negotiations.
The Business Council of Canada has urged the government to impose binding arbitration in this case, too.
Hajdu said her Liberal government is not anti-union, saying it is clear the two sides are at an impasse.
Travelers in limbo
Passengers whose travel is impacted will be eligible to request a full refund on the airline's website or mobile app, according to Air Canada.
The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible. But it warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because flights on other airlines are already full "due to the summer travel peak."
Laroche said he considered booking new flights with a different carrier, but he said most of them are nearly full and cost more than double the $3,000 they paid for their original tickets.
Laroche said he was initially upset over the union's decision to go on strike, but that he had a change of heart after reading about the key issues at the center of the contract negotiations, including the issue of wages.
"Their wage is barely livable," Laroche said.
Sides are far apart on pay
Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees have been in contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal.
Both sides say they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes aren't in the air.
"We are heartbroken for our passengers. Nobody wants to see Canadians stranded or anxious about their travel plans but we cannot work for free," Natasha Stea, an Air Canada flight attendant and local union president, said before the government intevention was announced.
The attendants are about 70% women. Stea said Air Canada pilots, who are male-dominated, received a significant raise last year and questioned whether they are getting fair treatment.
The airline's latest offer included a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions over four years, that it said "would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada."
But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8% raise in the first year didn't go far enough because of inflation.
"We're the national carrier and we have people operating in poverty. Like that's disgusting, that's very problematic," Wesley Lesosky, President of the Air Canada Component of CUPE, said at a news conference. ___
Airlines reporter Rio Yamat reported from Las Vegas.
