Jobs Minister Uses Section 107 to Restart Air Canada Talks

OTTAWA — Canada’s Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu met with both parties Friday night within a minute of the news briefing on the Air Canada (AC) Flight Attendant strike, "ordering parties to resume negotiations."

By using those terms, the Minister is requiring the flag carrier and its FAs to cooperate with the Canadian Industrial Labour Board, thus imposing biding arbitration, as stipulated in section 107 of the Canada Labour Code (CLC). The Minister responded as follows when asked why the government is only now using Section 107:

"What changed from yesterday and today is that last night I asked the parties to meet with me at the same meeting. We talked through what was remaining from the perspective of the parties. The talks continued throughout the night and the talks broke down. Clearly they need help with an arbitrator...The CIRB is the right place to resolve this."

At the time of writing, there were no scheduled talks, and both sides have yet to reach a resolution. The operational suspension and strike still threaten to strand approximately 25,000 Canadians overseas daily and disrupt summer travel plans worldwide.

Section 107

The Canada Labour Code's Section 107 grants the federal labor minister extensive authority in labor disputes. In particular, it permits the Minister to submit any inquiry to the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) or to order the Board to take the required steps to assist in resolving a dispute when it is thought appropriate for maintaining industrial peace.

If the Minister thinks it will help resolve the conflict and preserve advantageous circumstances for negotiations, this may entail enforcing arbitration or other settlement methods.

A referral made under Section 107 does not immediately revoke an employer's or union's legal authority to lock out or strike. The CIRB recently explained that, unless expressly mandated by law, the strike or lockout need not cease even though the Minister may instruct the Board to adopt actions like binding arbitration.

Negotiations remain at a standstill for now, so there’s no official word yet on when flights will resume or how long the labor dispute may still last.

Flight Cancellations Tally

Air Canada faced significant operational disruptions today, Saturday 16, with a total of 671 flight cancellations, including 344 domestic and 327 international services. The cancellations marked a sharp spike compared to previous days, particularly on August 16, when nearly the entire domestic and international schedule was impacted.

In total, between August 10 and August 17, AC scheduled 2,823 domestic flights and 2,917 international flights, of which 563 and 502 were cancelled, respectively.

The most severe disruptions occurred on August 15 and 16, with cancellations surging into the hundreds, affecting both domestic and international operations. AC will continue to provide daily updates at the same reporting time tomorrow.