When Air Canada flight attendants walked out last month, the Canadian jobs minister issued a back-to-work order. The flight attendants stayed out on strike, becoming the first union to defy such an order from the federal government.

Last month’s Air Canada flight attendants’ strike brought the country’s largest airline to a halt with picket lines set up at airports across the country.

After the federal government attempted to send the attendants, represented by Canadian Union of Public Employees’ (CUPE) Air Canada Component, back to their jobs, the workers refused, becoming the first union to resist this kind of order from the federal government, which has issued a spate of them in the past year.

The union’s refusal to back down led to new negotiations with Air Canada, and a tentative a

See Full Page