The brief but notable Air Canada flight attendant strike, with 99.7 voting in favor, began on August 16th and lasted only 3 days. The flight industry, being a high value, time sensitive and logistically demanding operation, was uniquely vulnerable to pressure from just a portion of its workforce striking. Even with these advantages, the strike was unable to sustain itself for very long and was, like so many other strikes, declared illegal and forced into arbitration against the will of 99.1 percent of its union membership who voted against the offers and in support of the continued strike. Even though the union dared to act against this order it was only for a brief moment. The will to act against the state would not be sustained and it was just another tactic to delay negotiations. Such a strike may demonstrate the power of the working class and the effectiveness of the strike tactic while also highlighting the total supremacy of the law acting against this power through the government and over the unions.

Previous Contract

In 2015, CUPE signed a 10 year contract with Air Canada under unfavourable terms. A series of blows to the airline industry starting with the financial collapse in the 70s, following then to 9/11 and COVID-19, left airlines in a feverish state of reducing costs and wages with flight attendants made to shoulder much of these burdens. Most notably, airlines began using an industry standard brake-to-brake pay system in which flight attendants would be paid only for the time when the plane was moving and all duties on the ground were unpaid. This unpaid labour, which in reality was hours per day and could vary greatly, effectively forced new and particularly unlucky flight attendants to live on what was close (CUPE even claims below in some cases) minimum wage. This previous contract, as is so often the case, was now falling far below inflation and became truly untenable during the large-scale inflation and constant increase of real costs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other airlines had near identical histories and flight attendants whose contracts had expired in previous years had successfully negotiated for better deals. Delta, United and American airlines all agreed at state arbitration to an inflationary matching wage and paid ground work for their flight attendants and this likely inspired CUPE’s leadership in regards to this strike.

The Strike

On August 13th CUPE issued a 72 hour warning to Air Canada after 99.7 percent of flight attendants voted in favour of striking. Immediately Air Canada sent an appeal to the Canada Industrial Relations Board who, under the leadership of Patty Hajdu, exercised their legal right to declare the strike illegal. Air Canada, in typical preemptive action, locked out the workers and made preparations for the cancellations and delays which sent a clear message to the strikers. As the strike went underway, immediately a back to work order was decreed and a deadline was set for 2 PM August 17th. Air Canada even announced that flights would resume at this time. A dirty tactic meant to threaten the strikers with public outcry over broken promises, which has been an effective tactic in many other CUPE strikes such as the teachers union and postal workers' union. This, however, did not work. CUPE declared that the strike would continue, claiming that the CIRB was acting against the law itself. This is untrue, CIRB is well within the law to destroy any and all labour movements as it pleases. However the threat of litigation was likely not meant to be literal and this issue would never see court but instead was meant merely to delay and further increase the cost of the strike. This ended up being an effective tactic. The next day, a second back to work statement was for noon of the 18th. In an act of unusual posturing Mark Hancock, the president of CUPE, declared “If it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it”. However, it ended up being only posturing indeed and the style of striking and negotiation of CUPE under Hancock was to be followed.

The Strike's End

On August 19th, less than 72 hours after the strike had begun, CUPE announced that it would indeed agree to the arbitration forced upon them by the CIRB. This was under no promises of the stated goals of the union and, despite Hancock's statements, was certainly to avoid the fines and potential jail time that were threatened by continuing an illegal strike for any substantial period of time. In the short period of time, estimates of the effective cost of the strike vary between 300 to 420 million dollars showing the power of the working class to cripple their overlords should they be unimpeded by the restrictions of the state and its obedient unions. The negotiations have been kept private so far, with only contracts sent to voting made public even to the workers themselves. In their tactic to isolate the workers little has been confirmed in these many months. CUPE has claimed that they have achieved partial ground pay for the flight attendants and have hinted at inflation scaling pay, but the first contract was rejected by 99.1 percent of the union vote. Beyond this, as is standard with CIRB and similar arbitrations, the proceedings are confidential.

The Future and Limits of Union Dealings

This strike was remarkable in ways and unremarkable in others. In terms of the actual contract negotiations, the settlement is predicted to be very similar to the aforementioned airline strikes with increased pay, decreased management and paid ground work. Other airline unions with soon to expire contracts are also taking note, and Air Transat workers are preparing a strike as of the time of writing. What was truly exceptional was the militancy displayed by the strikers themselves who openly went against the demands of the state, if only for a time. This energy, funneled through the union, became fizzled and moot as the workers power once again only gained them the minimum concessions. When the first contract was proposed, nearly identical to the now expected contract, 99.1 percent of the workers rejected their deal. It is clear that without the threat of law, without the threat of arrest and impoverishing fines, the workers would have no problem using their power to take what they want from the bourgeois parasites. Only the combined power of the state and corporations, which always act in tandem, is enough to subjugate the workers' strength and cattle them into their union handlers.