Flight attendants defy back-to-work order

Air Canada flight attendants are defying a back-to-work order and have vowed to stay on the picket lines until the employer gets back to the bargaining table.

 

Over 1000 angry and determined flight attendants and supporters took over Terminal 1 at Pearson airport on Sunday. There were similar rallies at airports across the country with more than 10,000 workers on strike.

 

Chants included "Patty Hajdu shame on you" and "1234 pay before you close the door - 5678 leave excuses at the gate!", referring to the unpaid work hours flight attendants face before they are on the plane.

 

The flight attendants were joined by postal workers, machinists, pilots and supporters from Unifor, other CUPE locals, Steelworkers, OPSEU and more.

 

Anti-union Carney

 

The Carney Liberals are following the lead from Trudeau and forcing binding arbitration on the workers. Trudeau famously forced the striking postal workers to pull down their picket lines and forced an end to the strikes by railway and port workers.

 

The anti-union agenda of the Liberals could not be clearer. The union leaders in Ottawa who stood with Hajdu and the Liberals as they announced anti-scab legislation, thus encouraging workers to vote for the Liberals in the last election, should be ashamed of their support for the anti-union Carney.

 

The national union leadership thinks the Liberals are a lesser evil to the Tories and just spent 4 years telling the NDP to keep propping up Trudeau even while he was forcing workers off the picket lines.

 

But CUPE national president Mark Hancock has broken with that perspective. At the rally on Sunday he tore up the back-to-work order and said, “I stated pretty clearly when this strike will end. I said it clearly before and I will say it clearly now. This strike will end when we have a collective agreement that works for our members.”

 

CUPE has indicated their willingness to fight - a call is urgently needed for solidarity actions now.

 

CUPE members must not be left to face down their greedy employer and the federal government on their own. When education workers in Ontario faced the hammer of Ford's anti-union law using the notwithstanding clause, unions pledged to join the fight, and the threat of a generalized fight with a united labour movement forced Ford to back down.

 

Some of those education workers (with OSBCU) joined the flight attendants today and said, "When OSBCU members walked out in 2022, CUPE AC attendants stood with us. Today, we return that support—loud, proud, and united. We’ve walked this road before. We know what solidarity can do. And we’re with you every step of the way.'

 

This solidarity is needed now, and the public is in support of this group of these underpaid workers. Union leaders need to be pressed to seize this moment and reverse Carney's carnage and Air Canada's arrogant bullying.