Air Canada Grounded As Flight Attendants Refuse Back-To-Work Order

Air Canada’s flights remain grounded and its network shutdown as a union representing the carrier’s flight attendants refuses to comply with a federal government back-to-work order.

The Montreal-based airline planned to resume service on Aug. 17 but was forced to put those plans on hold after the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents 10,000 flight attendants, said it wouldn’t comply with a federal directive ordering them back to work.

In a statement, Air Canada said its was forced to cancel 240 flights on Aug. 17 due to the continued strike by the flight attendants.

The airline said that it plans to resume flights on Aug. 18, though it didn’t provide details on how it would accomplish that with the flight attendants on picket lines across Canada.

The strike began over the weekend and has already resulted in the cancellation of more than 700 flights, stranding thousands of passengers in the process.

Federal officials in Ottawa quickly stepped in, directing the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order the parties to resume operations and extend the union’s previous collective agreement.

The federal government in Ottawa also directed the airline and union to enter binding arbitration to determine the outcome of the labour dispute.

However, CUPE and its unionized flight attendants are refusing to comply with the government orders, leaving Air Canada grappling for a resolution.

Air Canada has offered the flight attendants a 32.5% wage increase, which the union has rejected as “insufficient.”

Air Canada has said it will likely take between seven and 10 business days for its schedule to “stabilize” if the strike were to end immediately.

In a statement, CUPE said it wants Air Canada to “negotiate a fair deal, rather than relying on the federal government to do their dirty work for them when bargaining gets a little bit tough.”

The stock of Air Canada is down 12% this year and trading at $19.77 per share in Toronto.