Canada Industrial Relations Board declares Air Canada flight attendant strike illegal

By Canadian Press on August 18, 2025.

MONTREAL — Air Canada says the Canada Industrial Relations Board has declared the strike by the company’s 10,000 flight attendants illegal and has ordered the union’s leadership to direct its members to return to work.

The decision comes after a hearing on Sunday.

Air Canada says the board has ordered the union leadership, which authorized the strike, to tell its members to end the work stoppage that has grounded flights.

It says the board also directed individual members of the union to stop all unlawful activities and return to work.

Air Canada’s flight attendants went on strike on Saturday but were ordered back to work after federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu invoked Section 107 of the Labour Code to ask the Canada Industrial Relations Board to send the two sides to binding arbitration and order an end to the job action.

However, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the flight attendants, has ignored the edict and challenged the CIRB order in Federal Court.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2025.

Companies in this story: (TSX:AC)

The Canadian Press

12
-11