Air Canada flight attendants are not backing down after the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) declared a strike by 10,000 Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flight attendants illegal Monday and ordered them back on the job.
Mark Hancock, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said in a news conference in Montreal on Monday that the union will remain on strike.
“We’re telling our flight attendants we’re going to support them,” Hancock said.
CIRB declared a strike by 10,000 Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flight attendants illegal Monday and ordered them back on the job after they ignored an earlier order to return to work and submit to arbitration.
The strike at Canada’s largest airline entered its third day on Monday and is affecting about 130,000 travelers per day during the peak summer travel season, and the two sides remain far apart on pay and other issues. Air Canada suspended plans to restart operations Sunday after the union defied an earlier return-to-work order.
“The members of the union’s bargaining unit are directed to resume the performance of their duties immediately and to refrain from engaging in unlawful strike activities,” the Canada Industrial Relations Board board, or CIRB, said in a written decision.
The board, an independent administrative tribunal that interprets and applies Canada’s labor laws, said the union needs to provide written notice to all of its members by noon Monday that they must resume their duties.
It was not immediately clear what recourse the board or the Canadian government has in the face of the union’s continued refusal.
“We are in a situation where literally hundreds of thousands of Canadians and visitors to our country are being disrupted by this action,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said. “I urge both parties to resolve this as quickly as possible.”
Asked on Monday what kind of repercussions the union was willing to face for its defiance of the labor board’s return to works orders, Hancock said, “There’s no limit. We’re going to stay strong.”
“If it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it,” he added.
Despite refusing to comply with the back-to-work order, Hancock also said the union is committed to reaching a deal.
Air Canada had canceled 600 flights as of 4:03 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, according to FlightAware.com. Air Canada Rouge had 131 flight cancellations, the flight tracking and data provider showed.
Second return-to-work order
Air Canada’s plans to restart operations were first suspended on Sunday after the union said it would defy a return to work order. The strike was already affecting about 130,000 travelers per day during the peak summer travel season.
CIRB had first 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 initially said early on Monday that it would resume flights that evening, adding in a statement that the union “illegally directed its flight attendant members to defy a direction from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board.”
After the Canadian union’s second refusal to end its work stoppage, the airline updated its website Monday afternoon to say that Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations remain suspended.
“Rolling cancellations now extend until 16:00 EDT of August 19, 2025,” a statement on Air Canada’s site read.
“Over half a million customers have been impacted by this illegal strike, and we want to see an end to it,” Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau told BNN Bloomberg on Monday.
The labor board first ordered airline staff back to work by 2 p.m. Sunday and for the union to enter arbitration, after the government intervened. Air Canada then said it planned to resume flights Sunday evening. But when the workers refused, the airline said it would resume flights Monday evening instead. However, there was no sign that the Canadian Union of Public Employees, or CUPE, would relent.
Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day.
What Air Canada is offering
Union leader Hancock on Sunday had ripped up a copy of the initial back-to-work order outside Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, and said members wouldn’t go back to work this week, to the cheers of picketing flight attendants.
Flight attendants walked off the job around 1 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday after turning down the airline’s request to enter into government-directed arbitration, which allows a third-party mediator to decide the terms of a new contract.
Air Canada and CUPE have been in contract talks for about eight months, but remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work that 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 deal “would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada,” according to the carrier.
But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8% raise in the first year didn’t go far enough because of inflation.
“Air Canada’s intended restart of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, which have been grounded since Aug. 16 by CUPE’s labour disruption, was prevented on Aug. 17 by the CUPE leadership’s unlawful strike activities,” Air Canada said in a statement on Monday. “Air Canada regrets this impact on its customers and is fully committed to returning to service as soon as possible.”
The airline now estimates 500,000 customers’ flights have been canceled as a result. 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.
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.
Air Canada customers can find more information on the airline’s website: www.aircanada.com