Air Canada Suspends Restart Plans as Union Defies Return-to-Work Order

Air Canada suspended plans to restart operations Sunday after the union representing 10,000 flight attendants said it would defy a return-to-work order.

Air Canada said the union “illegally directed its flight attendant members to defy a direction from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board.” (Photo: Air Canada Facebook)

The strike had already disrupted about 130,000 travelers per day during the peak summer travel season, Rob Gillies reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered airline staff back to work by 2 p.m. Sunday after government intervention, and Air Canada initially said it would resume flights Sunday evening.

The carrier now plans to restart operations Monday evening. In a statement, Air Canada said 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, where union members were picketing.

Hancock tore up a copy of the back-to-work order outside the departures terminal and said members would also refuse to return Tuesday. Flight attendants chanted “Don’t blame me, blame AC.”