The Canadian government has intervened in the Air Canada strike, forcing both parties to the bargaining table as hundreds of flights were suspended at the weekend.
Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu ordered binding arbitration between the airline and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants, hours after a strike began on Saturday morning, the BBC said.
“Despite significant support from the government, these parties have been unable to resolve their differences in a timely manner,” Hadju said in a statement, adding that “stability and supply chains” must be preserved.
The country’s largest carrier says the strike will affect around 500 flights a day.
Hadju invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to bring the parties to the table.
In a statement on X, CUPE said Canada’s Liberal Party was “violating our charter rights” and the intervention “sets a terrible precedent”.
The airline said it had suspended all flights, including those under its budget arm Air Canada Rouge, and advised affected customers not to travel to the airport unless with a different airline.
Air Canada said this would disrupt travel plans for around 130,000 passengers a day.
Its flight attendants are calling for higher salaries and to be paid for work when aircraft are on the ground.
The strike took effect at 00:58 EDT (04:58 GMT) on Saturday, though Air Canada began scaling back its operations before then.
Flight attendants will picket at major Canadian airports, where passengers were trying to secure new bookings earlier in the week.
