An Air Canada agent on the left speaks with a man as an Air Canada, strike at the Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Montreal on Saturday August 16, 2025.
Graham Hughes / The Canadian Press / AP
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Graham Hughes / The Canadian Press / AP
Toronto – Air Canada said that he had suspended the intention to restart operations on Sunday after the union representing 10,000 on -board agents said that he would challenge a return state. The strike already affected around 130,000 travelers around the world per day during the tip of summer trips.
Canada Industrial Relations Board has ordered the staff of airlines at work on Sunday at 2 p.m. after the government’s intervention and that Air Canada said it was planning to resume flights on Sunday evening.
The largest airline in Canada now indicates that it will resume flights on Monday evening. Air Canada said in a statement that the union “had illegally ordered the members of its on -board agents to challenge a Directorate of the Canadian Committee on Industrial Relations.”
“Our members do not return to work,” said national president of Canadian public employees, Mark Hancock outside Pearson International Airport in Toronto. “We say no.”
The federal government did not immediately comment on the union refusing to return to work.
Hancock said that “the whole process was unfair” and said the union would dispute what he called an unconstitutional order.
“Air Canada really refused to negotiate with us and they refused to negotiate with us because they knew that this government would come on their white horse and try to save the day,” he said.
The country’s largest airline had declared early Sunday in a statement that the first flights will resume later in the day, but it will take several days before the return of its operations to normal. He said some flights will be canceled over the next seven to 10 days until the calendar is stabilized.
Less than 12 hours after workers left the post, the federal minister of jobs Patty Hajdu ordered the 10,000 return to work agents, saying that it was not the time to take risks with the economy and to note the unprecedented prices that the United States has imposed in Canada. Hajdu has returned work to the Canada Industrial Relations Council.
The airline said that the CIRB had extended the duration of the existing collective agreement until a new one was determined by the arbitrator.
The closure of the largest airline in Canada early Saturday had an impact on around 130,000 people a day. Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day.
The on -board agents left the post around 1 a.m. on the HA on Saturday. Around the same time, Air Canada said that it would start to lock the airports on -board agents.
The fight against bitter contracts intensified on Friday while the union refused the previous request of Air Canada to conclude an arbitration led by the government, which allows a third -party mediator to decide on the terms of a new contract.
Last year, the government forced the country’s two large railways to arbitration with their union during a work stoppage. The union of rail workers is continuing, arguing that the Government removes the leverage of a union in the negotiations.
The Canada Affairs Council also urged the government to impose a binding arbitration in this case. And the Canadian Chamber of Commerce praised the intervention.
Hajdu argued that his liberal government is not anti-union, saying that it is clear that the two parties are at a dead end.
Passengers whose flights are assigned may request a full refund on the website or mobile application of the airline, according to Air Canada.
The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible. However, he warned that this could not guarantee immediate refund because thefts on other airlines are already complete “due to the peak in summer travel”.
Air Canada and CUP have been in contractual talks for about eight months, but they have not yet concluded a provisional agreement. The two parties said they are distant on the issue of remuneration and that unpaid on -the -board agents do it when the planes are not in the air.
The airline’s latest offer included a 38% increase in total remuneration, including benefits and pensions, over four years, which said it would have made our highest paid ons in Canada “.
But the union postponed, saying that the 8% increase in the first year did not go far enough because of inflation.
