Air Canada delays restart plan, strike to continue | Australian Markets

Air Canada flight attendants say they’ll stay on strike regardless of a government-backed labour board’s order to return to work, calling the order unconstitutional.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees stated in a assertion that members would stay on strike and invited Air Canada back to the desk to “negotiate a fair deal”.

The airline stated it could delay plans to restart operations from Sunday till Monday night.

On Saturday, the Canadian authorities below Prime Minister Mark Carney moved to finish a strike by more than 10,000 flight attendants on the nation’s largest service by asking the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order binding arbitration.

The CIRB issued the order, which Air Canada had sought, and unionised flight attendants opposed.

The Canada Labour Code offers the federal government the ability to ask the CIRB to impose binding arbitration within the curiosity of defending the financial system.

The authorities, below former prime minister Justin Trudeau, intervened final yr to head off rail and dock strikes that threatened to cripple the financial system however it’s uncommon for a union to defy a CIRB order.

It was not instantly clear what choices the federal government has if the union continues its strike.

Air Canada had stated it deliberate to resume flights on Sunday night, following the anticipated finish of the strike that brought about the suspension of about 700 each day flights on Saturday, stranding more than 100,000 passengers.

Air Canada flight attendants walked off the job on Saturday for the primary time since 1985, after months of negotiations over a new contract.

The union known as a choice by the CIRB chair Maryse Tremblay to not recuse herself from handling the case a “staggering conflict of interest,” since she had labored as a senior counsel for Air Canada prior to now.

According to Tremblay’s LinkedIn profile, she served as Air Canada’s counsel from 1998 to 2004.

Air Canada, the CIRB and a Canadian authorities spokesperson weren’t instantly obtainable for remark.

Other unions joined the flight attendants’ picket line in solidarity in Toronto on Sunday.

“They are in support here today because they are seeing our rights being eroded,” stated Natasha Stea, an Air Canada flight attendant and native union president.

Air Canada had began cancelling flights on Thursday in anticipation of the stoppage.

Travellers at Toronto Pearson International Airport stated they had been confused about whether or not their flights would resume or Air Canada would make various preparations.

“We are kind of left to figure it out for ourselves and fend for ourselves with no recourse or options provided by Air Canada at this time,” Elizabeth Fourney of Vancouver stated.

The most contentious difficulty has been the union’s demand for compensation for time spent on the ground between flights and when serving to passengers board.

Attendants are largely paid solely when their airplane is shifting.

CUPE had pushed for a negotiated resolution, saying binding arbitration would take strain off the airline.

Air Canada stated on Sunday that the CIRB had ordered the phrases of the collective settlement between the union and the airline that expired on March 31 be prolonged till a new settlement may be reached.