Flight attendants vow to defy order

STRIKING Air Canada flight attendants vowed this week to defy another back-to-work order from the country’s labor tribunal, but resumed talks seeking to end a walkout that has cancelled travel for half a million people worldwide.

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Roughly 10 000 flight attendants walked off the job after at the weekend, insisting the airline had failed to address their demands for higher wages and compensation for unpaid ground work, including during boarding.

Canada’s national carrier, which flies directly to 180 cities domestically and abroad, said the strike had forced cancellations impacting 500 000 people.

Over the weekend, federal labour minister Patty Hajdu invoked a legal provision to halt the strike and force both sides into binding arbitration.

Following Hajdu’s intervention, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (Cirb), a regulatory tribunal, ordered the flight attendants back to work Sunday.

rhe flight attendants’ union said it would defy the order, forcing Air Canada to walk back plans to partially restore service.

Cirb regulators upped the pressure Monday.