The Canadian government on Saturday forced Air Canada and its striking flight attendants to return to work and submit to arbitration after a labor disruption stranded more than 100,000 travelers worldwide during the peak summer season.
Federal Employment Minister Patty Hajdu said now is not the time to take risks with the economy, pointing to the unprecedented tariffs the United States has imposed on Canada.
The intervention means that the ten thousand flight attendants will soon be back to work.
The government's action came less than 12 hours after the workers walked off the job.
"Talks have broken down. It's clear the parties are no closer to resolving some of the key remaining issues and will need the arbitrator's help," Hajdu said.
The minister also noted that the full resumption of services could take several days, indicating that this is dependent on the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
Meanwhile, Wesley Lesosky, president of the Air Canada Component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), accused the government of violating flight attendants' constitutional right to strike and criticized Hajdu for intervening after only a few hours.
“The Liberal government is rewarding Air Canada’s refusal to negotiate fairly by giving them exactly what they wanted,” Lesosky said.
Air Canada had no further comment when contacted Saturday afternoon. But the airline's chief operating officer, Mark Nasr, previously said a full restart of operations could take up to a week, meaning travelers could continue to face disruptions in the coming days.
