TORONTO — A shutdown of Air Canada by flight attendants over wages and unpaid work has rapidly escalated into a fight for the right to strike as union leaders said Monday they'll push despite orders to stop, while the airline said it hoped workers will soon comply.
The airline said it would cancel all Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights through 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday as the impasse continued into the evening. The company has been suspending flights on a rolling basis as the strike continues.
Air Canada Express flights operated by Jazz and PAL continue to operate as usual because they are not affected by the stoppage.
Meanwhile, Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu says the federal government is launching a probe into allegations of unpaid work in the airline sector — one of the key issues at the centre of the dispute — to close any loopholes that may exist.
The rising stakes of the impasse have left hundreds of thousands of travellers in limbo as timelines for a restart keep shifting.
Flight attendants were first ordered by the Canada Industrial Relations Board to return to work Sunday, after the federal government used Section 107 of the Labour Code to force the two sides into binding arbitration.
Union officials defied that order, leading the board to conclude Monday morning that the strike was unlawful as it ordered the union to stand down and publicly tell its members to do the same by noon ET Monday.
The union did not.
"We will not be returning to the skies this afternoon," said CUPE national president Mark Hancock at a press conference shortly after the deadline had passed, as he also expressed regret at the chaos travellers are experiencing.
Hancock said the union would press on because it was fighting not just for flight attendants, but for the right to collective bargaining.
"If it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it. We're looking for a solution here, our members want a solution here. But that solution has to be found at a bargaining table."
Labour leaders have cried foul on the federal government's repeated use of Section 107 of the labour code to cut off workers' right to strike and force them into arbitration, as the government has already done in recent years with workers at ports, railways and elsewhere.
While the union has vowed to press on, Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau said he's still looking for a quick resolution after having to cancel between 500 and 600 flights Monday.
"We're obviously hoping we can go tomorrow, but we'll make that decision later today," said Rousseau in an interview that aired on BNN Bloomberg early Monday afternoon.
He said the airline was caught off-guard by the union defying the order and expressed disappointment in the move.
"We thought, obviously, the Section 107 would be enforced," he said.
While the airline and union continue to clash, travellers are struggling through the chaos.
Among them are John and Lois Alderman, who said Air Canada has told them they could be stranded in Toronto for another four to five days while they wait for a flight back home to Manchester, U.K.
"I'm a diabetic and I'm going to run out of insulin in about four days," John Alderman said at Pearson International Airport. "That's going to cause a problem."
The couple said they feel like "prisoners in the hotel" with their two teenage kids, hesitant to go sightseeing in case they get an email from the airline with a last-minute flight.
It's not clear what the next steps will be in the dispute.
The industrial relations board held back on directly referring its ruling to Federal Court, which gives union members a little more time before facing potential fines or jail time, said Michael Lynk, a labour expert and associate professor at Western University's Faculty of Law.
He said either the board or Air Canada could ask to get an emergency hearing to have the union found in contempt of court to bring about those potential penalties, but that the union seems resolved to push back on the use of what, until recently, was an obscure clause.
"There's a rising anger in the labour movement about the promiscuous use by the federal government, with respect to Section 107," said Lynk.
Part of the problem with the mechanism is that it skips any kind of parliamentary debate or vote, which was needed under more conventional back-to-work legislation, he said.
The other problem is it can affect how companies negotiate, since federally regulated industries can now expect the government to potentially step in.
"It creates, if you like, a narcotic," said Lynk. "The company realizes it doesn't have to obey the deadline or the threat of a strike because they know the federal government, or they'll bet the federal government, will move in."
It's not clear what the government's next move is.
Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier Monday urged both sides to quickly resolve the situation that's disrupting travel for hundreds of thousands of people. He said Hajdu would provide a further update later Monday.
Hajdu told The Canadian Press in an interview that she finds the union's claims of unpaid work "deeply disturbing." She said she has asked the federal labour department if there have been any complaints from the sector about the practice, but she said, to her knowledge, there have been none.
This process itself will not put an end to labour unrest at Air Canada — it will take "a number of weeks" for Hajdu's department to interview employers and unions to get the full scope of collective agreements in the Canadian airline sector, she said.
If the probe determines those allegations are well-founded, Hajdu said she is prepared to introduce legislation that would close any such loopholes.
"I hope that it's going to give Canadians confidence that if we find instances where work is unpaid, that there will be a remedy, legally or otherwise," she said.
Flight attendants went on strike early Saturday morning after talks broke down and the two sides failed to reach a deal on Friday.
Air Canada estimated Monday that some 500,000 customers’ flights have been cancelled since the strike began. It also said it was suspending its financial guidance for the third quarter and full year because of the disruption.
The move prompted a note from RBC analyst James McGarragle, who said the strike is likely to put significant pressure on what is normally the airline's most profitable quarter, estimating an earnings hit before deductions of about $300 million a week.
Hancock said the union was aware of the scale of the disruption for travellers, but it has to push on for workers and their rights.
"We're very sorry for the impact on Canadian people, and that's unfortunate that they're caught up in this," he said.
"It's not going to change our resoluteness, it's not going to change what we're doing as a union."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:AC)
— With files from Craig Lord in Ottawa, Rianna Lim and Natasha Baldin in Toronto and Miriam Lafontaine in Montreal.
Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press
