Air Canada suspends restart plans after flight attendants union defies
return to work order
[August 18, 2025] By
ROB GILLIES
TORONTO (AP) — Air Canada suspended plans to restart operations Sunday
after the union representing 10,000 flight attendants said it will defy
a return to work order. The strike was already affecting about 130,000
travelers per day during the peak summer travel season.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered airline staff back to work
by 2 p.m. Sunday after the government intervened and Air Canada said it
planned to resume flights Sunday evening.
Canada’s largest airline now says it will resume flights Monday evening.
Air Canada said in a statement that the union “illegally directed its
flight attendant members to defy a direction from the Canadian
Industrial Relations Board.”
“Our members are not going back to work,” Canadian Union of Public
Employees national president Mark Hancock said outside Toronto's Pearson
International Airport. “We are saying no.”
Hancock ripped up a copy of the back-to-work order outside the airport’s
departures terminal where union members were picketing Sunday morning.
He said they won't return Tuesday either.
Flight attendants chanted “Don’t blame me, blame AC” outside Pearson.
“Like many Canadians, the Minister is monitoring this situation closely.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board is an independent tribunal,"
Jennifer Kozelj, a spokeswoman for Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu
said in a emailed statement.
Hancock said the “whole process has been unfair” and said the union will
challenge what it called an unconstitutional order.
Less than 12 hours after workers walked off the job,)Hajdu ordered the
10,000 flight attendants back to work, saying now is not the time to
take risks with the economy and noting the unprecedented tariffs the
U.S. has imposed on Canada. Hajdu referred the work stoppage to the
Canada Industrial Relations Board.
The airline said the CIRB has extended the term of the existing
collective agreement until a new one is determined by the arbitrator.
The shutdown of Canada’s largest airline early Saturday was impacting
about 130,000 people a day. Air Canada operates around 700 flights per
day.
Tourist Mel Durston from southern England was trying to make the most of
sightseeing in Canada. But she said she doesn’t have a way to continue
her journey.
“We wanted to go see the Rockies, but we might not get there because of
this,” Durston said. “We might have to head straight back."
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People protest outside Air Canada headquarters in Montreal, Sunday,
Aug. 17, 2025, after the federal government is intervened in the
labour dispute between the airline and the union representing its
flight attendants, ordering binding arbitration and operations to
resume. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
 James Hart and Zahara Virani were
visiting Toronto from Calgary, Alberta for what they thought would
be a fun weekend. But they ended up paying $2,600 Canadian ($1,880)
to fly with another airline on a later day after their Air Canada
flight got canceled.
“It’s a little frustrating and stressful, but at the same time, I
don’t blame the flight attendants at all,” Virani said. “What
they’re asking for is not unreasonable whatsoever."
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.
The bitter contract fight escalated Friday as the union turned down
Air Canada’s prior request to enter into government-directed
arbitration, which allows a third-party mediator to decide the terms
of a new contract.
Last year, the government forced the country’s two major railroads
into arbitration with their labor union during a work stoppage. The
union for the rail workers is suing, arguing the government is
removing a union’s leverage in negotiations.
Hajdu maintained that her Liberal government is not anti-union,
saying it is clear the two sides are at an impasse.
Passengers whose flights are 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. Still, it
warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because
flights on other airlines are already full “due to the summer travel
peak.”
Air Canada and CUPE have been in contract talks for about eight
months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal. Both sides have
said they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work
flight attendants do when planes aren’t in the air.
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.
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