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Thoughts on Air Canada Strike and Government Involvement

a plane flying in the sky

My thoughts in ONE word on the Air Canada flight attendant strike and government involvement: “WOW!”

As you may have noticed, I have not posted in a while, or very sporadically in the past year. I actually had no idea when I was going to post again. But when I read that the government of Canada decided to step in, it inspired me to write something up. This is going to a be long winded post, so I am going to break this up into different sections so that you can jump to the relevant one instead:

  • Summary of the situation
  • Opinion / thoughts on the situation
  • Ideas if you are stuck in limbo (i.e. if you need to rebook your flight)
  • If you are stranded at the airport or hotel… (read this)
  • Suggested solutions

If you cannot sleep tonight due to your complicated situation, this is my way of staying up with you. You have something to read and feel free to share your thoughts and experience with us in the comment section below!

Summary of the situation

If you haven’t heard, as of midnight today, August 16, Air Canada flight attendants have the legal right to go on strike, which they did. Many flights have been cancelled. The fact that not every single flight was cancelled caused a lot of confusion and passengers have been left to scramble. Fast forward to the middle of the day, the Government of Canada decided to invoke Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to send flight attendants back to work. However, just because they are forced back to work, does not mean business as usual instantaneously. There will be some transition time, so passengers continue to scramble.

Even though I gave a brief summary of the situation, the reality is that every minute or even every hour that goes by, the situation is constantly changing. So by the time you read my thoughts below, we are already behind the news. But here goes!

Opinion / thoughts on the situation

First of all, I am not sure I am able to pick a side. There are so many factors at play. My thoughts on the situation will bounce back and forth between the two sides. The first thing I want to mention, which I will frequently refer back to in this post, is that because Air Canada is a publically traded company (i.e. on the stock exchange), it is often a disadvantage for employees. When a company has to answer to shareholders and have to publish their financially for the world to see, employees generally get the short end of the stick. Therefore, I think that Porter Airlines stands to gain the most from this fiasco and hopefully this is a lesson learned that they never go public (i.e. be traded on a stock exchange). More on this later.

The reason why I believe that employees are at a disadvantage is because being on the stock exchange is basically a conflict of interest when it comes to fairness to employees. Corporations need to squeeze every penny out of expenses to maximize profits. That being said, there are many different theories on how to make profit.

For example, I truly believe that happy employees can lead to a more profitable business model, because employees who actually care about their job will hopefully do a better job. In this case, if flight attendants are paid more fairly, they would probably offer a better level of customer service, which usually results in higher customer satisfaction, which should increase the bottom line. But why can’t the executives of Air Canada see this?

The CEO of Air Canada is getting a lot of flake for earning millions. How about sharing some of that with the employees instead? Here is my unfortunately take on the C-level executive compensation. The problem is that their compensation is actually publish for the world to see. Which means, shareholders are looking at it very carefully. The stock market is also very emotionally driven, which means if the executives are earning a high compensation, it gives the shareholders more confidence. Imagine if the executives had to cut their compensation due to financial troubles? The stock would tank. Therein lies the conflict of interest with its employees…

Back to my thoughts on Porter Airlines, I really hope that they never trade publicly. They have an opportunity right now to take over a huge market share. They have an opportunity to treat their employees well. And they don’t have to pay massive salaries and bonuses to their executives to make the company “look good”. They really just have to do their job and offer a great product, with happy employees, and they will be handed clients on a silver platter at this point. To a lesser extent, this should benefit other Canadian airlines too, if they can capture some of the market share.

On a side note, WestJet has had its share of problems in recent months and years, but this really is a golden opportunity to get their things together fast, so they can also take a share of the pie. For them as well, hopefully we do not see them go on the stock exchange, that could actually be a disaster for them when they start squeezing their employees even more.

Ideas if you are stuck in limbo

Those of you who does not want nor need to hear my thoughts. Here are some quick ideas on what you can do if you are in a difficult situation with your current Air Canada flight.

  • Be proactive. I cannot emphasis this more. Create options for yourself/yourselves. Do not wait for someone to tell you what options you have. Start researching, making calls, travel insurance options, Air Canada App, etc.
  • For example, if you are expecting Air Canada to rebook you, research options yourself as well so you have something to present to them to speed things up. Do not wait on an Air Canada agent to do the research for you.
  • Get on the phone, with your travel agent, with Air Canada, with whoever you feel you need to gather information and create options.
  • Travel insurance has been a tricky one as most companies do not cover strike. But there might be another clause in there that can cover at least part of your situation. It might not cover everything, but take whatever you can get. Basically, do not spend too much time on what is not covered, and focus on reading the fine print to see what IS covered, so hopefully you can get something from there.
  • The Air Canada App has options. A lot of people are saying that if you cancel your flight and get a full refund from Air Canada, you will have no recourse from them anymore. In some cases, it might make sense to just do it and have the peace of mind. For example, if you have a trip that is not actually necessary, and you can get a full refund and no out of pocket, at some point, you might as well just take it and net zero. This only applies to people who do not have to make alternative arrangements.
  • If you have no choice but to fly, then you better start working at creating options, and pushing every recourse you possibly have.
  • Remember, Air Canada is a publically traded company, so they are doing everything in their power to avoid additional compensation. They will believe that their best offer is a full refund and nothing more. So you will have to flight for every penny more than that. And even if your flight was today, the fight for compensation can go on for weeks or even months after this has blown over. Air Canada will drag their feet till you give up.
  • I’m not sure how much the employees on the phone and at the gate can actually offer in that moment. They may verbally offer you something, not put in writing, and then you have to go chase after it later on. Their hope is that you will let it go as they try to drag out additional compensation indefinitely.

Personally, if I can get out of this net zero, as in, I give up my trip entirely, get my full refund whereby I have no out of pocket, I will be pretty happy about it. Peace of mind is worth a lot to me, so I would actually leave something on the table. But if I absolutely have to fly, then I would try to fight for compensation. But I also know that it’s not going to be an easy fight and would need to be very proactive. So be ready to be patient if that is the route you are taking.

My next trip with Air Canada is a couple of months away. I hope that this does not drag out this far. If it does, maybe you will see another post from me!

If you are stranded, at the airport or hotel…

This section was going to be a little more fun. But let’s get the serious part covered first.

This is for those of you stuck at your hotel or better yet, have a family or friend that you can stay with. If you are hesitating to head to the airport and have options, then I suggest you stay put if possible and let things blow over. I understand that staying put would require the financial and time flexibility, so this only applies if you afford to do it. Staying away from the airport is a courtesy that you can give to other passengers who have to fly more urgently. It gives them more options to work with.

Look at this on the bright side. Treat this like an extended vacation. In this case, try to take the peace of mind options if you can get a full refund (see above section: Ideas if you are stuck in limbo). If you can wait it out, you might even be able to find a cheaper flight (with a different airline) later on. This would require a lot of flexibility.

If you have no choice but need to fly out of urgency, the truth is, you are better off at the airport trying to create options for yourself. The agents at the airport have more discretionary powers than the agents over the phone. Not to mention being able to talk to other airlines in person if you need to fly with a different airline. It’s just easier to create options when you are at the airport with your luggage. There is obviously a risk to this option as you might be stranded at the airport, so this applies for people who have to travel urgently. Otherwise, better to stay back and wait it out a bit.

Back to my fun thoughts on this section. These are times when having lounge access is best. Hopefully lounges are more lenient on letting you in earlier so that you can relax a bit. Use the lounge agents to help you create options as well (as mentioned in the section: Ideas if you are stuck in limbo). Kick your feet up, read posts from forums and bloggers, write a comment below, eat some food and get some work done!

Suggested solutions

If you ask me, my simple solution would be for Air Canada delist from the stock exchange and go private. That would take away so much of the conflict of interest that exists. Since this is probably not a realistic option, here are my realistic thoughts.

On the one hand, I do believe that Air Canada flight attendants are underpaid for their work. On the other hand, Air Canada has shareholders to answer to, so there is only so much give and take that is going to happen.

So here is my suggested compromise. I think that flight attendants should be paid hourly, based on when they embark and disembark the plane. The time at the airport unfortunately is going to be the compromise time. My thought is that their main work starts when they board the plane, i.e. showing up to their workplace. For sure there is time outside the plane where they have to do some minor things, but that’s unfortunately their contribution to the shareholders for being a publically traded company. In terms of their hourly wage, this is going to be a tougher sell (to shareholders) on how much to increase the rate. My hope is that them being compensated when they board the plane, it will increase their compensation overall, and if the flight is delayed, they would be paid for that delay. However, as a compromise, there is only a limited amount of percentage increase on the hourly rate that can be negotiated.

Either way, hopefully they eventually come to an agreement. The reality is, because they are publically traded, their is only so much negotiating power they have. So I really do wish they would get delisted from the stock exchange so that they can run a better airline privately.

4 Comments

  1. I respectfully disagree with the notion that Air Canada’s status as a publicly traded company justifies its treatment of employees or passengers. Being on the stock exchange doesn’t inherently mean a company must suppress labor rights or cut corners on service. If anything, it should be held to higher standards of accountability.

    Take Copa Airlines as a counterexample. Copa pays a healthy dividend—nearly 6% yield as of mid-2025—and still manages to maintain high employee satisfaction and strong passenger loyalty. Their staff are known to be proud of the company culture, and passengers often praise the airline’s reliability and generosity. Copa resumed and even increased its dividend after the pandemic, showing a commitment to both shareholders and operational excellence.

    Meanwhile, Air Canada doesn’t even pay a dividend. So the argument that shareholder pressure is driving its decisions falls flat. What we’re seeing instead is a pattern of corporate greed—squeezing employees with unpaid duties, hiking fares for passengers, and leaning on government intervention to avoid fair negotiations.

    The government’s use of Section 107 to shut down the strike so quickly sends a troubling message: that economic disruption is more intolerable than labor injustice. But protecting workers’ rights should never be optional, especially when the company in question has the resources to do better.

    1. I like your point of view David. Maybe I did not come across the best. I don’t actually think it justifies Air Canada’s move to suppress labour rights and cut corners. I just think that this is the move they decided to take. But it doesn’t mean it’s the morally right one.

      I thought I did balance things out by saying that there is a business case to treat their employees better so that they can offer a better product which inherently should result in higher profits. At least if it’s about the bottom line, there is a chance to pitch a business proposal like yours so that the employees to gain something from the negotiating table.

      But I see your point, if corporate greed has taken over, and it’s not even for shareholders’ bottom line, then that’s even more disappointing because it will make it even harder for employees to win anything. How do you fight against that much corporate greed?

  2. Interesting reading, good to hear from you again. Obvious that this impassioned column came straight from your heart. (you didn’t even waste time to do any proof reading 🙂

    1. Nice to hear from you too. I did one edit, goal was to post it before midnight. Thanks for the nudge. I’ll try edit some grammar when I can!

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