what good is a right if you can't use it? how can we stop this maddening, unconstitutional practice of legislating people back to work? cupe flight attendants lead the way.
happy labour day! part two
The Canadian labour movement has a long and rich history of striking. Strikes are labour’s most powerful tool, and Canadian workers’ right to strike is protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Or is it?
In the 20 years that I’ve been in Canada, I’ve seen many strikes broken — legally. Each time, I’ve been horrified by the audacity of the government, disgusted by the laws that allow this, and enraged for the workers on the line. If governments can simply order workers back to work, do strikes still have power? If the government can simply break a strike at will, what does that say about their respect for our Charter rights?
Organizing and maintaining a strike is incredibly difficult. The time and energy needed are enormous, and often, the solidarity is fragile. The idea that all your organizing can be flushed away with a government order is beyond maddening!
In trying to entangle the history of the right to strike in Canada, I’ve stumbled into a morass of quick-fix legislation, with overlapping and often contradictory court decisions. One very clear pattern emerges: governments swoop in to fast-track legislation to break unpopular strikes and force workers back to work. Then later, courts rule that the legislation was unconstitutional — too late for the teachers or transit workers or sanitation workers or nurses that were strong-armed into lousy contracts.
It’s bad enough that some unionized workers don’t have a legal right to strike, because they provide services deemed “essential”. I say all workers provide essential services! Try doing without any of us! You’ll see it can’t be done.
If the service that workers provide is so crucial, so indispensible to the community, then that should be reflected with comfortable salaries and premium working conditions. When low pay and crap conditions lead to strikes, the job actions would be that much more powerful.
We recently witnessed a particularly egregious form of legal streak-breaking and a brilliant, powerful moment of resistance.
10,000 Air Canada flight attendants recently — and legally — walked off the job. Their issue? Unpaid work. All the work you see flight attendants do before and after the flight — gate announcements, boarding calls, cleanup — has been off the clock. Air Canada flight attendants are not paid for work done when the plane is on the ground!
That’s right, Air Canada — after cutting their workforce to the bone, overcharging for everything from seat assignments, to baggage, to crappy food — has each flight attendant doing the work of two or three people without getting paid for the time.
The Carney government, typically Liberal (i.e. anti-labour), invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code:
The Minister, where the Minister deems it expedient, may do such things as to the Minister seem likely to maintain or secure industrial peace and to promote conditions favourable to the settlement of industrial disputes or differences and to those ends the Minister may refer any question to the Board or direct the Board to do such things as the Minister deems necessary.
Industrial peace? Hardly. More like conditions favourable to a crappy employer, with a bit of public goodwill for the government. There is widespread recognition in the labour movement that this “unprecedented” use of Section 107 is “raising questions about just how much unfettered power” the section gives the government over labour.
“You won’t believe what happens next.”
I was furious to learn that the flight attendants were being forced back to work — then thrilled to learn they were having none of it. The flight attendants voted unanimously to defy the back-to-work order. CUPE National President Mark Hancock said:
We will not be returning to the skies this afternoon. If it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it.
Air Canada may have seriously miscalculated: there’s plenty of evidence that the public supports the flight attendants. Polls show that almost 90% of Canadians support the flight attendants’ right to strike, and 60% surveyed say the government should not intervene, even if it causes travel disruptions. Hey, maybe Canadians believe workers should get paid for their work?! Just a thought.
This excellent editorial in The Independent calls the flight attendants’ refusal to comply with Section 107 a decisive victory for labour, with more to come: Thank you, Air Canada flight attendants.
This is the only way. Governments won’t stop interfering in labour disputes if we ask them nicely. Court challenges are important, but always too late. The only way to end this egregious government interference in labour disputes is to stand in solidarity and refuse to comply. Then we must call for the repeal of these anti-worker clauses that are nothing more than legal strike-breaking and union-busting.
From the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC):
CUPE flight attendants prove bargaining, not Carney’s Section 107, delivers deals
Air Canada flight attendants, members of CUPE, have delivered a decisive blow to employers who think they can sidestep fair bargaining by hiding behind Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code.
Prime Minister Carney’s government chose to impose Section 107 just hours after the strike began—an unprecedented and heavy-handed move to tilt the scales in the employer’s favour. With the backing of the entire labour movement, CUPE stood its ground, defied the order, and forced the company back to the bargaining table—where a fair deal was reached. The outcome makes one thing clear: Section 107 is no longer a reliable weapon for employers.
By refusing to bow to government interference, CUPE flight attendants exposed Section 107 for what it is: an unconstitutional violation of workers’ Charter-protected right to free and fair collective bargaining. Any employer thinking of leaning on Section 107 in the future should think twice—it’s a crutch that just snapped.
Deals are made where they should be—at the bargaining table. That’s good for workers, good for communities, and good for building lasting relationships between unions and employers. The entire labour movement is grateful to flight attendants for their strength and perseverance in standing firm for these rights.
The last 24 hours have shown that Section 107 is unconstitutional, unenforceable, and corrosive to free collective bargaining. Canada’s unions are calling for its removal from the Canada Labour Code. We urge all parties in Parliament to make this a priority in the upcoming fall session—because protecting workers’ Charter rights should never be optional, and employers must never again be allowed to rely on Section 107 to delay or deny fair bargaining.
The lesson from this strike is undeniable: workers win when they fight, and collective agreements are made through negotiation, not government-imposed edicts. Section 107 has been dealt a blow it shouldn’t recover from—and that’s good news for every worker in Canada.