August 16 2025

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), representing 425,000 members across Canada, stands in unwavering solidarity with the 10,000 Air Canada Flight Attendants represented by CUPE.

By invoking section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, the federal government has sided with Air Canada and stripped flight attendants of their Charter-protected right to strike. This decision rewards an employer that refused to bargain in good faith and instead relied on government interference to deliver the outcome it wanted.

Flight attendants put forward reasonable, evidence-based proposals to address poverty wages and unpaid labour. Air Canada chose brinkmanship and delay—walking away from the table and banking on intervention. Today, that gamble has been rewarded, at the expense of workers’ rights and the integrity of free collective bargaining.

“Ordering flight attendants back to work is not labour peace; it is political interference that tramples workers’ rights and lets Air Canada off the hook for its refusal to bargain fairly,” said Bert Blundon, President of NUPGE. “This dangerous precedent undermines free collective bargaining for every worker in Canada. NUPGE is proud to stand with CUPE flight attendants in their fight for dignity, respect, and justice.”

The right to strike is not a disruption of democracy, it is one of its clearest expressions. Curtailing that right undermines the foundation of free collective bargaining and sends a chilling message to all Canadian workers. NUPGE calls on Air Canada to come to arbitration prepared to engage seriously and in good faith, and on the federal government to recommit to protecting, rather than eroding, the democratic rights of workers.