Canadian Government Intervenes In Air Canada Flight Attendant Strike, Minister Orders 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, “the negotiations are broken. The parties are not closer to solving some main problems and they 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.

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.

Wesley Lesosky, the head of the Air Canada component, said Hajdu waited for only a few hours to intervene and violated the government’s right to constitutional strike.

“The liberal government rewards Air Canada to refuse to negotiate fairly by giving them exactly what they want,” 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.

The painful struggle between the union representing 10,000 of the flight officials with the airline rejected a union’s request for the airline’s request for arbitration to the state, and a third -party mediator refused to decide on a new contract conditions.

Keelin Pringnitz from Ottawa returned from a European holiday with his family when they were stranded at Heathrow airport of London after the flights were canceled. He said that the next travelers were an option for them to go to the United States, but they were told that they would not have any more help after landing to the USA.

“He didn’t go well with the line. Nobody seemed to be really interested, everyone was almost a little entertained or bored, because the trapped passengers were a bit ridiculous to offer them to take them to a different country to compensate there.”

The 21 -year -old Montreal residents were saving for European holidays since Alex Laroche and his girlfriend Noel. Now he is doubtful of his 8,000 dollars of travels with unmissable accommodation. They had a flight to reservation on a Saturday night, France, on a Saturday night.

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.

Carleton University Sprott Faculty of Business Associate Professor Ian Lee, previously intervened in the government’s transportation strikes many times, he said.

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.”

Canada is the second largest country in the world and the flight is usually the only applicable option.

“We are a very big country and very destructive when there is any strike in transportation, Lee Lee said.

During a study, the government forced the country’s two major railways to fortify last year with workers’ trade unions. 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.

“When the valuable cargo is grounded and trapped, the government made the right decision to direct the binding arbitration on both sides, Mat said Matthew Holmes, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce. “The air of Canada says that every hour of census will need up to a week to re -operate the network, that is, it can be brought closer to one million Canadian and international visitors”.

Hajdu said that the liberal government is not anti -union, and it is clear that the two sides are in a dead end.

According to Air Canada, passengers affected by travel will be suitable for request to request 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. However, the flights in other airlines have already warned that they cannot guarantee reservation immediately, as they are already full of “summer travel summit”.

Laroche said he was thinking of booking new flights with a different carrier, but most of them were almost full and that they paid for their original tickets more than twice the $ 3,000.

Laroche said he was upset about the union’s decision to go on strike, but after reading the key issues at the center of contract negotiations, including wages, he made a heart change.

“Wages can be barely livable, Lar Laroche said.

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.

Natasha Stea, a Flight Officer and Local Union President Natasha Stea, said before the government intervention was announced, “His heart was broken for our passengers.

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.

Airline reporter Rio Yamat reported from Las Vegas.