Over 10,000 CUPE unionized Air Canada workers defied the orders of the nation’s labour board, stayed off the job and secured a tentative agreement.
Kim Siever, labour journalist for the The Alberta Worker, joins Blueprints of Disruption host Jessa McLean to talk about what led up to the strike, the Liberals’ liberal use of back-to-work legislation, and what this means for Canadian labour.
Together, they draw comparisons to other back-to-work orders and try to predict what might happen next.
Related BoD episodes:
- CUPW, Right to Strike (Jan 2025) Strike Captain, Stop Steward and Mail Carrier Sera talks about the dealings with Canada Post bosses, the attempts to build militancy inside the union and more…
- Making Mass Actions Count (Nov 2022), with organizer John Clarke. It compares Ontario’s almost general strike to the Mike Harris Days of Action in the 1990s.
- Carney’s First 100(ish) Days: A Paradigm Shift, (July 2025) co-hosted with Ashwin from the International Solidarity Pod, a look at the neoliberal agenda being fast tracked under the new PM.
More resources:
- The Alberta Worker: Air Canada flight attendants hold strike vote
- Global News UPDATE: Air Canada Tentative Deal
- Alberta Worker: Coaldale workers reject forced vote
- Statement from Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress, following an emergency meeting of Canada’s Unions on the Air Canada Flight Attendants Strike
- CBC: 4 Things to Know about the Air Canada Strike
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