While many see the victory of CUPE and Air Canada flight attendants as a major achievement (and it is), perhaps it is better to see the win within the context of a much larger battle, one that will be fought on many fronts and over many years. There are several issues this labour conflict opened up, from the far too cosy relationship between government and corporations to corporate contempt for customers to massive efforts to undermine, perhaps even eliminate, the bargaining process.
There are many things to speak of in today's post, but I'll start with what we know thus far about the deal struck between Air Canada and its flight attendants. CBC reports the following:
... the tentative deal secures Air Canada flight attendants at least 60 minutes of ground pay, for their time before each flight, at a rate of 50 per cent of a flight attendant's hourly rate, with that rate increasing five per cent each year.
The airline is also proposing immediate pay increases of 12 per cent for flight attendants with five years or less of service with Air Canada, and eight per cent for those who have worked at the airline longer than that. Salaries would increase three per cent in the second year, 2.5 per cent in the third year and 2.75 per cent in the fourth year.
CBC News has learned that the only thing that the flight attendants will vote on are the proposed salary increases.
While not as generous as many would have hoped, the tentative deal at least represents a start on the road to wage redress. More intractable, however, are other issues, one of which this letter from The Star examines:
Make no mistake, Air Canada management was at fault
I am a retired senior who is sick and tired of the manner that big business and big government get away with bullying ordinary folks and depriving them of their rights.
Air Canada had no intention of bargaining in good faith. They decided to precipitate a shut down by walking away from the table and locking out their employees to force the government to act. There seemed little attempt by the airline to address the most egregious aspects of their offer to their employees.
I think it’s time for our government to act more responsibly on labour issues instead of arbitrarily ordering workers back to work with mandatory arbitration as requested by an employer. What they have done is to try force workers to accept what the airline dictated until an arbitrated settlement is imposed; most of which have favored the employers position in almost every case over the last several years. Employers are using the government to avoid bargaining in good faith. This is not negotiating.
It’s time for the government to show some backbone and let employers know this is not a legitimate negotiating tactic. There should be penalties for either party that fails to negotiate in good faith, especially when arbitration is solicited by one of them. Employers like Air Canada and the government have both violated workers’ rights to a negotiated settlement under our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Robert Holden, Keswick, Ont.
The letter-writer's observations are echoed in a Star editorial, which castigates the Carney government's response to the strike, which
showed the folly of a federal government that not only overreached, but also showcased a callous disregard for those fighting the scourge of unpaid work, further inflaming an already volatile situation.
The editorial acknowledges there may be occasions for government intervention,
]b]ut the threshold should be extremely high, and governments should be extremely reluctant. Ottawa’s haste here was both unseemly and counterproductive.
Hajdu invoked Section 107 of the Canadian Labour Code, directing the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to order the flight attendants back on the job and sending the dispute to binding arbitration in the name of “industrial peace.” In so doing, she made a mockery of the collective bargaining process in this country. Once again, a federally regulated employer could treat a labour dispute without any urgency knowing the federal government would jump in and provide them with cover. Why negotiate in good faith?
There are ongoing challenges to Section 107 of the Canadian Labour Code, but they will take time to wend there way through the courts. The government's precipitous invocation of the section now guarantees a harsh spotlight on it. Canadians, as a rule, do value fairness.
I'll end this post with one final observation. The strike, and people's consequent efforts to book on other airlines, laid bare the nature of unfettered, predatory capitalism. There were numerous media reports of 'surge' pricing as demand for tickets on othe airlines grew. One expert I saw on television news said that is simply the market functioning as it should: it will charge whatever people are willing to pay.
I am not the only to find this practice offensive, the absence of any ethical/moral considerations deeply disturbing. A customer
shared photos of a one-way ticket on Aug. 22 from Edinburgh, Scotland to Toronto for over $2,500, while the same flight is usually available on WestJet and other Canadian airlines for under $1,000.
“Let’s never forget that when Air Canada was shut down, the other airlines didn’t help. They instead price gouged Air Canada’s customers. You could have gained customers for life, instead you price gouged them four–five times the fare value. WestJet, this is despicable and short sighted,” the customer said on X.
As the post gained traction online, WestJet then responded in the comments, claiming that prices automatically go up with increasing demand, which is a standard practice for all airlines.
A standard practice, eh? Maybe, but hardly a defensible one. But of course, it is only the average person who is most affected by such gouging, so I guess all is well in the world that corporations and their captured governments move in.
