After Air Canada strike, Ottawa may need to change its intervention strategy: experts

Flight attendants' defiance in the face of federal intervention meant to halt a recent strike at Air Canada could set a new precedent for work stoppages, some labour movement-watchers say.

The workers' move disrupted a growing pattern that has been eroding the right to strike in Canada, said Barry Eidlin, an associate professor of sociology at McGill University, referring to the federal Liberal government's repeated use of Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, a relatively recent mechanism.

The regulation gives the minister power to take actions that "promote conditions favourable to the settlement of industrial disputes," including by referring the matter to the labour board.

But Eidlin called the Liberal government's repeated use of the regulation — including to end separate strikes