The Air Canada strike resolution was a big win for flight attendants – and all workers

With any luck, governments will now be hesitant to use the Labour Code to undermine the right to strike. After all, the best deals are made at the bargaining table, right?

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Is this plane high enough for workers to be paid yet? Photo by David Syphers on Unsplash

When the federal government ordered striking — and locked out — flight attendants back to work last weekend, it was simultaneously attacking the constitutionally protected right to strike. Labour minister Patty Hajdu waited a mere 12 hours after CUPE, the union which represents Air Canada flight attendants, announced the strike to use a section of the Labour Code to order workers back on the job and into binding arbitration, citing the risk of economic harms and travel disruptions. It’s a move Liberals have been all too keen to pull in recent years.

The right to strike has been recognized by the Supreme Court. It’s a critical tool in the collective bargaining process. The ability of workers to withhold their labour is essential to securing fair deals from employers. Without the threat of losing the labour that makes business possible, employers have little to no incentive to bargain in good faith, or at all. And why would they if they can rely on the federal government to intervene and order workers back to work and into binding arbitration any time there’s a labour dispute. That’s part of what has made the Air Canada strike such an important moment for labour: it was a test of just how far the government is willing to go to undermine worker rights.