Toronto – The Government of Canada forced Air Canada and its amazing hostesses to work already arbitration on Saturday after a work strike varied to more than 100,000 travelers worldwide during the maximum summer trip season.
Federal Minister Patty Hajdu, said that now it is not time to take risks with the economy, pointing out the unprecedented tariffs that the United States has imposed on Canada. The intervention means that the 10,000 hostesses will return to work soon.
The government’s action occurred less than 12 hours after workers left work.
«The conversations broke. It is clear that the parties are not closer to solving some of the key problems that remain and will need help with the referee,» Hajdu said.
Hajdu said that the complete resumption of services could take days, pointing out that it depends on the Canada Industrial Relations Board. Meanwhile, Wesley Lesosky, president of the Air Canada component of the CUPE Union, accused the government of violating the constitutional right of flight attendees to attack, and denounced Hajdu for just waiting for hours to intervene.
«The liberal government is rewarding Air Canada’s negative to negotiate just by giving them exactly what they wanted,» said Lesosky.
Air Canada did not have additional comments when it was available on Saturday afternoon. But Air Canada’s operations director Mark Nasr said previously that it could take a week to completely restart operations, which means that travelers can continue to face interruptions in the coming days.
The closure of the largest airline in Canada on early Saturday is affecting about 130,000 people per day, and about 25,000 Canadians may be stranded. Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day.
Hajdu ordered the Canada Industrial Relations Board to extend the period of the existing collective agreement until the referee determines a new one.
«Canadians trust air trips every day, and their importance cannot be underestimated,» he said.
Union spokesman Hugh Pouliot, did not know immediately what days workers would return to work. «We are in the picket lines to more information,» he said.
The bitter contract fight intensified on Friday when the union rejected Air Canada’s prior request to hold arbitration directed by the government, allowing a third party mediator to decide the terms of a new contract.
Flight attendees left work around 1 in the morning EDT on Saturday. Almost at the same time, Air Canada said it would begin to locate airport airports.
Ian Lee, associate professor at the Sprott Business School of Carleton University, said that the Government repeatedly intervenes in transport attacks.
«They will intervene to end the strike. Why? Because it has happened 45 times since 1950 until now,» Lee said. «Everything is due to the incredible dependence of Canadians.»
Last year, the Government forced the two main railways of the country to arbitration with its union during a work strike. The union for rail workers is demanding, arguing that the government is eliminating the influence of a union on negotiations.
The Canada Business Council had urged the Government to impose binding arbitration in this case as well. And the Canadian Chamber of Commerce welcomed the intervention.
«With the valuable cargo based on the base and the stranded passengers, the Government made the right decision to send the two parties to a binding arbitration,» said Matthew Holmes, the executive vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, which adds that «about one million Canadians and international visitors could be affected» if it takes Air Canada for a week to be completely operational.
Hajdu argued that his liberal government is not anti-union, saying that it is clear that the two parties are at a dead point.
Passengers whose flights are affected will be eligible to request a complete refund on the website or the airline’s mobile application, according to Air Canada.
The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible. Even so, he warned that he could not guarantee immediate refund because flights in other airlines are already full «due to the summer travel peak.»
Many travelers expressed their frustration for Air Canada’s response to the strike.
Jean -Nicolas Reyt, 42, said he had heard little Air Canada only a few hours before his next flight from France scheduled for Sunday.
«The stressful thing is not to listen to anything Air Canada,» said Reyt, who is trying to return to Montreal, where he is an associate professor of organizational behavior at McGill University. He said that he only received an email from the airline on Thursday warning about possible strike interruptions, but that he had no more information at night in Cannes, where he was visiting the family.
Reyt assumes that his next flight could be canceled, just like the dozens of other long interruptions this weekend. «I am very surprised that Air Canada let him go so far,» he said. «It’s really a bit discouraging to fly somewhere abroad and then don’t come back to you.»
Jennifer Macdonald, from Halifax, Nueva Scotia, expressed a similar frustration. She has been trying to help her brother and cousin get home to Edmonton, Alberta, since the second leg of her Air Canada trip was canceled during what was supposed to be a 1 hour scale in Montreal on Friday night.
The two had to pay $ 300 of their own pocket for a hotel, Macdonald said. All Saturday morning, they tried to look for recovery options, but everything was exhausted, he added. Finally, they chose to reserve a new flight for August 22, Halifax, and another family member volunteered to make an eight -hour trip to pick them up in Montreal and bring them back east on Saturday.
«It will be a terrible experience of several days and a trip of several thousand dollars,» Macdonald said. But despite how stressful the interruptions have been, he added that his family remains in solidarity with the hostesses. «We hope Air Canada lifts the blockade and negotiate fairly.»
After the news of the Canadian government forcing arbitration on Saturday, Reyt also expressed concern about Air Canada hostesses. «I think the hostesses are making some reasonable arguments,» he said, he added that he hopes that the intervention will not be «a way of silencing them.»
Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees have been in contract conversations for about eight months, but have not yet reached an tentative agreement.
Both parties say they remain very separate in the issue of payment and unpaid work hostesses when the airplanes are not in the air.
«We are disconsolate by our passengers. Nobody wants to see the Canadians stranded or anxious for their travel plans, but we cannot work for free,» said Natasha Stea, an Air Canada hostess and president of the Local Union, before announcing government intervention.
Attendees are about 70% of women. Stea said Air Canada pilots, who are dominated by men, received a significant increase last year and questioned whether they are receiving fair treatment.
The last offer of the airline included a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions for four years, which said «would have made our hostesses the best compensated in Canada.»
But the union delayed, saying that the 8% increase proposed in the first year was not far enough due to inflation. ___
Grantham-Philips reported from New York. The reporter of the airlines Rio Yamat contributed to this Las Vegas report.
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