Government forces Air Canada and flight attendants back to work and into arbitration

TORONTO (AP) – Canadian government was forced Air Canada And striking flight officials returned to work and arbitration on Saturday after leaving more than 100,000 passengers around the world in the most intensive summer travel season.

Federal Business Minister Patty Hajdu said that there is no time to take risks with the economy. unprecedented tariffs The US imposed on Canada. Intervention, 10,000 flight officials It will return to work soon.

The action of the government came less than 12 hours after the workers left work.

Hajdu, “Negotiations are broken. It is clear that the parties are not closer to solving some main problems and will need help with the arbitrators.” He said.

Hajdu said that it may last for days to start the full re -start of the services and that it depends on the Canadian Industrial Relations Board. Meanwhile, Wesley Lesosky, the head of the Air Canada Component of the Cupe Union, accused the government of violating the right to constitutional strikes – and decided to wait for hours to intervene Hajdu.

“The Liberal Government Air Canada rewarded that he refused to negotiate in a fair way by giving them exactly what he wanted,” Lesosky said.

Air Canada had no additional comments when it was reached on Saturday afternoon. As the carrier’s operations will still continue in the air, travelers can continue to face problems in the coming days.

The closure of Canada’s largest airline at the beginning of Saturday is affected Approximately 130,000 people per dayAnd about 25,000 Canadians may be stranded. Air Canada makes about 700 flights a day.

Hajdu ordered the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to extend the duration of the current collective agreement until a new one was determined by the referee.

“The Canadians rely on the air travel every day and cannot be simple,” he said.

Union spokesman Hugh Pouliot did not immediately know which day workers would return to work. “We are on the pile lines until the next announcement,” he said.

While the union returned Air Canada’s request for arbitration to the state, the painful contract struggle rose on Friday while rejecting the previous demand that enabled a third -party mediator to decide the conditions of a new contract.

Air Canada Chief Business Officer Mark Nasr said that it could take up to a week to restart the operations.

Flight officials went out of work around EDT around 1 o’clock on Saturday. At the same time, Air Canada said he would start locking flight officials from the airports.

Ian Lee, an associate professor at the Sprott School of Carleton University, said that he had repeatedly intervened in the government’s transportation strikes.

Lee, “they will intervene to end the strike. Why? Because it has been 45 times from 1950 to now,” Lee said. “Everything is because of the incredible addiction of the Canadians.”

Last year government Forced the country’s two major railways to fortifications With the union during a study stopping. The Railway Workers Union is filed a lawsuit and argues that the government has removed the leverages in the negotiations.

The Canadian Business Council government called for binding arbitration in this case. And the Canadian Chamber of Commerce welcomed the intervention.

Matthew Holmes, Deputy General Manager of Chamber of Commerce, “Dear cargo grounded and trapped by passengers, the government has decided to direct the binding fortifications on both sides,” he said.

Hajdu said that the liberal government was not anti -union, and that the two sides were in a dead end.

According to Air Canada, the passengers affected by flights will be suitable for requesting full refund on the airline’s website or mobile application.

The airline said it would offer alternative travel options through other Canada and foreign airlines when possible. Nevertheless, the flights in other airlines have already warned that they cannot guarantee to make a rating immediately because they are already full of “summer travel summit”.

Many travelers, Air Canada’s reaction to the strike frustrated.

42 -year -old Jean – Nicolas Reyt said he heard very little than Air Canada just a few hours before France’s scheduled flight.

“Not hearing anything from the stressful Air Canada, Rey he said, trying to return to Montreal, a professor of organizational behavior at the University of McGill. On Thursday, he said he had received only one e -mail from the airline company, but in accordance with the warning of possible strike interruptions, but he did not know any more in Cannes, where he visited the family on Saturday evening.

Reyt assumes that the upcoming flight can be canceled – like the points of other long problems this weekend. “I was very surprised to let Air Canada go so far,” he said. “It’s really a little courageous for them to fly you somewhere abroad, and then they don’t fly you back.”

Nova Scotia, Jennifer Macdonald of Califax also expressed a similar disappointment. The second leg of Air Canada trip is trying to help her brother and cousin to return home to Edmonton during what it should have a 1 -hour accommodation in Montreal on Friday night.

Macdonald said the two should pay $ 300 out of their pocket for a hotel. All Saturday morning, they tried to look for Re -inevation options, but everything was sold. Eventually, they chose to book a new flight from the Califax for August 22, and they volunteered to make an eight -hour driving to take them at Montreal on Montreal and bring them back to the east on Saturday.

“There will be a very old ordeal and a thousand dollar journey, Mac said Macdonald. However, as well as stressful as disruptions, he added that his family is in solidarity with flight officials. “We hope Air Canada has lifted the lock and negotiated in a fair way.”

After the news of the Canadian government’s arbitration on Saturday, Reyt also expressed concern for Air Canada’s flight officials. “I think flight officials are making some reasonable arguments,” he added that the intervention was not just a way to silence them.

Air Canada and Canada Public Employees Union have been involved in the contract meeting for nearly eight months, but they have not yet reached a temporary agreement.

Both sides say that they are separated from payment and that the unpaid business flight officials do when the planes are not in the air.

“Air Canada Flight Officer and Local Union President Natasha Stea, before the announcement of the government intervention,” our passengers have broken heart. He said.

The participants are about 70% women. Stea said that the male -dominated Air Canada pilots received a significant increase last year and questioned whether they were treated fairly.

The last offer of the airline included a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions for four years.

However, the union pushed it back, the first year, the proposed 8% increase did not go further due to inflation, he returned. ___

Grantham-Philips reported from New York. Airline reporter Rio Yamat contributed to this report of Las Vegas.