Air Canada’s summer travel season has been thrown into chaos as a dramatic standoff between the airline and its flight attendants' union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), escalated over the weekend. The dispute, which began with a strike and lockout on August 16, 2025, has led to the cancellation of nearly a thousand flights, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and sparking a heated debate over workers’ rights, government intervention, and the future of collective bargaining in Canada.
On Sunday, August 17, Air Canada canceled about 240 additional flights after CUPE announced its more than 10,000 flight attendants would remain on strike, openly defying a back-to-work order issued by the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB). The union’s decision came despite a federal directive—invoking Section 107 of the Labour Code—that ordered both sides into binding arbitration and required workers to return by 2 p.m. ET that day. CUPE responded by filing a challenge in Federal Court, with national president Mark Hancock declaring outside Toronto Pearson Airport, “Our members are not going back to work. We are saying no.”
Hancock’s defiant tone was matched by visible acts of protest. According to Global News, he tore up a copy of the back-to-work order outside the departures terminal, signaling to Air Canada and the government that the union was “ready for a big fight.” Flight attendants picketed outside Toronto’s Pearson Airport on Sunday morning, with similar demonstrations organized at airports in Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary. The union dubbed the day a “day of action,” rallying support from across the country.
The federal government, led by Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu, had intervened less than 12 hours after the strike began, citing the “potential for immediate negative impact on Canadians and our economy is simply too great.” Hajdu’s office said she was invoking the rarely used Section 107 to push the dispute into binding arbitration, a move that has precedent in previous major labor disputes, including last year’s rail yard strike. However, the union was unimpressed, with CUPE accusing Hajdu of caving to Air Canada’s demands and undermining workers’ rights.
“Air Canada has really refused to bargain with us, and they refused to bargain with us because they knew this government would come in on their white horse and try and save the day,” Hancock told reporters. The union maintains that the process has been fundamentally unfair, with its main sticking points revolving around wages that have failed to keep pace with inflation over the last decade and unpaid labor when planes aren’t in the air. The collective agreement between CUPE and Air Canada expired on March 31, 2025, and the CIRB has ordered its terms extended until a new deal is reached.
Natasha Stea, president of CUPE Local 4091 for Montreal-based flight attendants, echoed the frustration at a demonstration outside Toronto airport. “I want to be very clear, Air Canada is choosing to do this to our passengers, to our company, because we are the face of the company, and they’re trying to blame us for all this and getting together with their friends in the government to kind of circumvent all our rights,” Stea said. She added, “Workers are done being abused and exploited. Where you have a multi-billion dollar company that’s refusing to pay living wages to their employees, I just don’t know.”
The impact on travelers has been immediate and severe. As of Sunday, Air Canada reported roughly 940 canceled flights, affecting both Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge services. The airline said it would offer those affected options including full refunds, travel credits, or rebooking on other carriers, but warned that “capacity is currently limited due to the peak summer travel season.” Flights operated by Air Canada Express, including Jazz and PAL, were not affected.
For many passengers, the cancellations were more than an inconvenience—they were a personal crisis. Audrey Allen, whose Toronto to London flight was canceled at the last minute, told The Canadian Press she was left scrambling to find a new way to reach a friend in need. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to her, because she can’t afford to stay in this nursing home, and I can’t do anything about it at all,” Allen said, visibly distraught.
As the standoff intensified, the broader labor movement rallied behind CUPE. The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) convened an emergency session late Sunday, issuing a statement that “the heads of Canada’s unions” unanimously supported Air Canada’s flight attendants in “defying the government’s unconstitutional attack on workers’ rights.” The CLC called for the immediate withdrawal of the federal government’s intervention and urged Parliament to remove Section 107 of the Labour Code. “The labour movement is united and standing firm, and we will not allow these Charter-protected rights to be trampled upon,” the statement read.
Air Canada, for its part, characterized CUPE’s actions as illegal. In a Sunday statement, the airline said the union had “illegally directed its flight attendant members to defy a direction” from the CIRB. Air Canada announced it would push back its plan to resume flights until Monday evening, August 18, though the union insisted it would stay on strike until a “fair, negotiated collective agreement” was reached. The airline did not immediately clarify why it believed operations could resume by then.
The origins of the dispute can be traced to failed last-minute negotiations. CUPE had announced its intention to strike after being unable to reach an eleventh-hour deal with the airline. Air Canada responded by locking out its agents about 30 minutes later, escalating the confrontation. The union has repeatedly invited Air Canada back to the table to negotiate what it calls a fair deal.
Underlying the public drama are deep-seated frustrations over pay and working conditions. CUPE claims that wages have been eroded by inflation over the past ten years, and that flight attendants are often required to perform unpaid labor when aircraft are not airborne. The airline’s refusal to address these issues at the bargaining table, CUPE argues, has pushed workers to the breaking point.
For the federal government, the dispute presents a delicate balancing act. On one hand, there’s the imperative to keep Canada’s air travel industry running smoothly during the busy summer months. On the other, there’s mounting pressure from organized labor and civil society to respect the right to strike and ensure fair collective bargaining. As the CLC’s statement suggests, this confrontation could have ripple effects for labor relations across the country.
With Air Canada planning to resume flights as of Monday evening and CUPE vowing to continue its strike until its demands are met, the outcome remains uncertain. What’s clear is that the dispute has exposed deep divisions—not just between management and labor, but also over the appropriate role of government in resolving such conflicts. For now, passengers, workers, and the airline industry as a whole are left anxiously awaiting the next move in a battle that has become about far more than just canceled flights.
