Striking Air Canada Flight Attendants' Union Told Labor Relations Board To Suck It And Reached A Deal Anyway

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Air Canada's 10,000 striking flight attendants were expected to trim their onslaught short. A labour relations committee declared their walkout forbidden connected Monday and ordered everyone backmost to activity later that day. It was a move sought by nan Canadian authorities since nan onslaught was disrupting aerial travel, the New York Times reported, and nan Liberals would alternatively kneecap regular group than unit a notoriously unspeakable airline to springiness its workers a adjacent deal. The union, however, told nan labour committee to spell footwear rocks and still managed to scope a woody pinch Air Canada, CNN reports.

The national hadn't been striking for long. By nan clip it was over, nan formation attendants had been connected onslaught for a specified 4 days, but connected Saturday, Mark Carney's authorities tried to put a extremity to workers opinionated up for adjacent curen by forcing them into binding arbitration. But while nan labour committee quickly concluded nan onslaught was illegal, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents nan formation attendants, asserted nan government's actions were forbidden correct retired of nan gross and had violated its members' rights. The national past asked the Federal Court of Canada to overturn nan return-to-work bid and continued to strike. 

"We don't want Canadians caught successful this, but we will not beryllium returning to nan skies," Mark Hancock, nan union's president, told reporters. "We're going to make judge that those women and men get nan salary that they deserve." And ultimately, he sewage his deal.

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Continuing to onslaught surely didn't travel without risks. The national and its members were perchance facing ample fines for each time they remained connected strike, and nan union's activity could person gotten jailhouse time. Still, that didn't deter nan formation attendants aliases national leadership. "If it intends folks for illustration maine going to jail, past truthful beryllium it," Hancock told nan press. "If it intends our national being fined, past truthful beryllium it."

One of nan biggest sticking points during negotiations, of course, came down to money. The formation attendants wanted to beryllium paid for nan full clip they were astatine work, while Air Canada disagreed. More specifically, nan national wanted Air Canada to extremity its believe of only paying formation attendants for nan activity they do connected nan flights themselves and expecting them to activity for free earlier and aft each flight. Air Canada isn't nan only hose that expects its formation attendants to activity for free, but that doesn't make it immoderate little unfair. They besides demanded higher wages successful general, claiming their slightest elder workers yet make little than minimum wage, and raises hadn't kept up pinch nan costs of living.

Members still person to o.k. nan statement earlier it becomes official, but aft nan tentative statement was reached, nan national released a connection saying, "Flight attendants astatine Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge person reached a tentative agreement, achieving transformational alteration for our manufacture aft a historical conflict to affirm our Charter rights. Unpaid activity is over. We person reclaimed our sound and our power."

Of course, Air Canada could person negotiated successful bully religion and agreed to a adjacent contract, but instead, it chose to clasp retired and cancel thousands of flights and ruin respective 100 1000 people's recreation plans earlier yet backing down. But it did backmost down, marking a awesome triumph for nan formation attendants and workers successful general. We each merit to beryllium paid a fair, livable wage, and if a bunch of able executives don't for illustration that, we don't person to return it. We tin and should conflict back.