OTTAWA — Canada’s largest union is suing the federal government to stop it from ever again invoking the controversial legal tool the Liberals used to order striking Air Canada flight attendants back to work.
In a lawsuit filed on Monday, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) — which represents over 750,000 members including Air Canada flight attendants — laid bare its outrage towards the airline and the Liberal government.
The union accused Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu of disregarding, undermining and nullifying the flight attendants’ constitutional right to strike by invoking section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to order an end to the strike.
The lawsuit asks a Federal Court judge to quash the minister’s decision and declare that the power she invoked is both unconstitutional and exceeds her jurisdiction. In the meantime, CUPE is also seeking an emergency injunction against Hajdu’s order.
“In issuing her direction, the Minister overrode, abrogated and effectively precluded the Union’s ability to exercise its legal right to strike and its only legal means of asserting and leveraging economic power within the scheme of the Canada Labour Code,” CUPE argued in the lawsuit obtained by National Post.
“The Minister erred in law, inappropriately exercised her jurisdiction, authority and/or discretion, based her decision on erroneous findings of fact that she made in an arbitrary and abusive manner and/or issued an unreasonable decision” when she issued her order on Saturday, CUPE added.
The federal government has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit. A spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The controversial section says the minister can direct the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to do what she deems necessary to “maintain or secure industrial peace” or create favourable conditions for a deal during labour disputes.
In recent years, the Liberals have taken that to mean that they can order the board to declare a strike illegal, compel federally regulated employees back to work or mandate binding arbitration between parties.
Since 2024, they’ve invoked the power to end numerous port and railway strikes as well as a work stoppage at Canada Post in December.
On Saturday, barely hours after 10,000 flight attendants went on strike for better pay and hundreds of Air Canada flights were cancelled, the federal government again invoked section 107 to demand the CIRB order pickets back to work and parties enter binding arbitration.
Hajdu’s decision even earned condemnation from Liberals such as her caucus mate Kristina Tesser Derksen.
“I am disappointed by our Government’s decision to trigger Section 107 and the speed at which it occurred,” she wrote on social media. “While we are not in complete alignment, I acknowledge the Minister is in a position were she must consider the unprecedented uncertainty that our country faces.”
Saturday, Hajdu rejected accusations that her government is anti-union.
“We believe that unions are an essential part of a healthy and growing economy. However, in a case like this, where multiple efforts have been made to conclude an agreement that satisfies both parties and it is clear that they are at an impasse, it is very clear they need some help in arbitrating the final items,” she said.
But after the CIRB ordered flight attendants back to work Sunday, CUPE leadership publicly ripped up the decision and called on members to continue striking. On Monday morning, the board declared the strike to be illegal, but it continued regardless as the Canadian Labour Congress voiced its support for CUPE.
Then early Tuesday morning, CUPE announced that it had reached a tentative agreement with Air Canada and that the strike was over.
CUPE’s lawsuit also alleges that shortly after flight attendants overwhelmingly voted for a strike mandate in early August, Air Canada “ceased bargaining” and focused on lobbying the Liberals to block the strike.
“On August 12, 2025, Air Canada presented a detailed brief to the Minister requesting that the Minister intervene and preemptively order that the Union and its members not be permitted to exercise their legal and constitutional right to strike,” CUPE wrote.
“Relying on anticipated intervention from the Minister, Air Canada withdrew from any genuine effort to reach an agreement through good faith collective bargaining.”
An Air Canada spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was relieved Air Canada and the union had reached a tentative agreement.
“It is my hope that this will ensure flight attendants are compensated fairly at all times, while ending disruption for hundreds of thousands of Canadian families, workers, and visitors to Canada,” he wrote.
National Post
cnardi@postmedia.com
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