‘They’re seeing the dirty little secret’: Air Canada strike leaves Calgary travellers struggling to make connections as union pushes back

Air Canada flight attendants defy the federal government’s back to work order forcing Air Canada to cancel hundreds more flights. Tyson Fedor reports.

A large, vocal protest was held at Calgary International Airport as Air Canada flight attendants pushed back against a government ordered return to work mandate.

Following hours of demonstrations and hundreds of cancelled flights, federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu ordered operations to resume and for the union’s prior collective agreement to be extended until binding arbitration could determine a final outcome of the dispute.

CUPE in a Saturday afternoon statement described the move as “cav(ing) to corporate pressure,” accusing the Mark Carney government of dealing “incalculable damage to the Charter and workers’ rights.”

Sunday morning, the union said it wasn’t going back to work.

In Calgary, Brittany Thomas, the president of CUPE Local 49, was blunt about her union’s next steps.

“We are staying on strike. As of now,” she said. “We believe that we have that right. We are not obligated to return to work.”

After initially announcing that flights would resume Sunday, Air Canada issued an update, saying that flights would now resume Monday evening.

Honeymoon

At the airport, Air Canada passengers struggled to make alternative travel plans on short notice.

Emma Demers and her new husband Quinn were all set to go on a honeymoon in Cape Cod and New York City, with flights booked in and out of Boston.

Demers got a text at 3 a.m. on Sunday saying her flight had been cancelled, but then Quinn told her that the flight attendants were being ordered back to work, just as she was about to try to re-book the trip at around 4 a.m.

“I think with wedding planning, I’ve learned that things change, and to be okay with that,” Demers said, “but just something you look forward to, and then things change--and like, non-refundable hotels, we had a concert booked and things like that.”

She said they weren’t likely to get on a plane Sunday and they both have to be back at work Aug. 26, leaving very little flexibility to re-book.

“Here we are, just trying to figure out if we can go or not,” Demers said.

Deteriorating conditions

CUPE’s Thomas said work conditions for Air Canada flight attendants have been deteriorating for years, as staffing shrinks and passenger loads increase, creating more unpaid work hours for flight attendants.

“The unpaid work component has, I would say, escalated over the years, the required expectations at work are different than what they used to be, and they have increased,” she said.

“When they reduce the amount of flight attendants we had on board the aircraft, the workload increased and they have squeezed more passengers on board the aircraft,” she said. “So when an airplane 20 years ago held 120 people, well now it holds 150 and there’s less of us on board.”

“We used to have four crew members to that amount of people. Now we have three.

“And when you see that there’s more medical emergencies, there’s more disruptive passengers, there’s more luggage, there is so many strains on our time before we leave -- and we don’t get paid until the brakes are off and the aircraft pushes back from the airport.

“It can be a very significant amount of time that we can be at work and we are not being paid,” Thomas said.

She said the striking attendants are heartened by support they’re getting, including from the public.

“I think that the curtain has been pulled back, and we’re seeing the real truth,” Thomas added. “And I think that the general public is seeing the real truth. They’re seeing the dirty little secret, the stuff that was never told or explained or clarified -- and now it’s out in the open.”

Cancun in 20 hours

Elsewhere in the airport, a group of six who were booked to go to Cancun explained their expanded new itinerary.

“We actually were the lucky ones,” said Isaac Kazeil, one of the six travellers. “We got re-directed. But we’re flying to Edmonton first, and we have two hours there, and we’re flying to Denver, two hours there, then San Francisco, two hours there -- and then San Francisco to Cancun.

“And we’re looking at the flight time, and it’s actually like the same flight time from San Francisco to Cancun as Calgary to Cancun, so we have our regular flight, plus, like, all of these other layovers. So it’s like almost 20 hours of flying to go to place like five hours away, right?”

He said Air Canada picked up the cost of redirecting their flights, which turned out to be around $22,000.

“$22,000 is a bit crazy, especially since they’re trying to save money with the whole strike stuff going on,” Kazeil said. “I definitely think, like, (it) makes you not want to go with Air Canada.

“You know, the next time you fly, maybe pick a more secure airline.”

On the picket line at Toronto Pearson International Airport Sunday, component president Wesley Lesosky underscored the union’s rejection of Hajdu’s back-to-work order.

“I sent them back a video of it being ripped up,” Lesosky said. “Air Canada needs to see that all these people are standing behind their union. Air Canada needs to understand that we need a collective agreement.”

With files from CTV’s Tyson Fedor, Jermaine Wilson and Charlie Buckley