Air Canada’s flight attendants went on strike early Saturday, forcing the airline to suspend all operations and creating travel chaos for its 130,000 daily passengers.

“We are now officially on strike,” the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents 10,000 flight attendants, said in a statement, ITV reports.

The airline, which operates direct flights to 180 cities worldwide, confirmed it had “suspended all operations” in response to the stoppage.

“Air Canada is strongly advising affected customers not to go to the airport,” it said, adding that it “deeply regrets the effect the strike is having on customers.”

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CUPE was legally able to strike from 12:01 a.m. (0401 GMT) Saturday, after giving a 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday. The walkout officially began at 12:58 a.m., both sides confirmed.

Air Canada had been winding down operations ahead of the labour action. By 8:00 p.m. Friday, it had cancelled 623 flights affecting more than 100,000 passengers. Its full 700-flight schedule for Saturday has been scrapped.

Unpaid Ground Work at Issue
Alongside wage increases, CUPE says it wants compensation for unpaid ground duties, such as helping passengers during boarding.

Rafael Gomez, head of the University of Toronto’s Center for Industrial Relations, said it is “common practice, even around the world” to pay flight attendants only for time spent in the air.

He noted the union had built an effective campaign around the issue.

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“‘I’m waiting to board the plane and there’s a flight attendant helping me, but they’re technically not being paid for that work,’” he said an average passenger might think.

“That’s a very good issue to highlight,” Gomez added, suggesting any gains made by Air Canada flight attendants could influence other carriers.

Air Canada outlined its latest offer in a Thursday statement, saying that under the terms, a senior flight attendant would earn on average CAN$87,000 ($65,000) by 2027.

CUPE has rejected the proposal, describing Air Canada’s offers as “below inflation (and) below market value.” The union has also turned down requests from the federal government and the airline to send the dispute to independent arbitration.

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Stalemate During Peak Travel Season
Gomez said he did not expect the strike to last long.

“This is peak season,” he said. “The airline does not want to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue… They’re almost playing chicken with the flight attendants.”

The strike comes as Canada’s economy is already feeling pressure from U.S. tariffs under President Donald Trump, affecting key industries such as auto, aluminum and steel.

The Business Council of Canada warned before the walkout that an Air Canada shutdown could worsen the strain.

“At a time when Canada is dealing with unprecedented pressures on our critical economic supply chains, the disruption of national air passenger travel and cargo transport services would cause immediate and extensive harm to all Canadians,” it said.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Saturday that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem”, adding she would try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war as her country currently holds the EU presidency.

“Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen said in an interview with the Jyllands-Posten daily, adding that the Israeli government was going “too far.”

The centre-right leader slammed the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and the new settlement project in the occupied West Bank.

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“We are one of the countries that wants to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained the support of EU members,” she said.

Frederiksen added that she wanted to consider “political pressure, sanctions, whether against settlers, ministers, or even Israel as a whole,” referring to trade or research sanctions.

“We are not ruling anything out in advance. Just as with Russia, we are designing the sanctions to target where we believe they will have the greatest effect,” added Frederiksen, whose country is not among those that have said they will recognise the Palestinian state.

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The October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Gaza’s Hamas rulers resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 61,430 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.

At least 60 people will be prosecuted for “showing support” for the recently proscribed Palestine Action group, in addition to three already charged, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday.

“We have put arrangements in place that will enable us to investigate and prosecute significant numbers each week if necessary,” the Met said in a statement.

More than 700 people have been arrested since it was banned as a terrorist group in early July, including 522 people arrested at a protest last weekend for displaying placards backing the group — thought to be the highest ever recorded number of detentions at a single protest in the UK capital.

“The decisions that we have announced today are the first significant numbers to come out of the recent protests, and many more can be expected in the next few weeks,” said Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson.

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“People should be clear about the real-life consequences for anyone choosing to support Palestine Action,” said Parkinson.

The first three people were charged earlier this month with offences under the Terrorism Act for backing Palestine Action, after they were arrested at a July demonstration.

According to police, those charged for such offences could face up to six months imprisonment, as well as other consequences.

“I am proud of how our police and CPS (prosecution) teams have worked so speedily together to overcome misguided attempts to overwhelm the justice system,” Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said.

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In a statement following the latest mass arrests, Interior Minister Yvette Cooper defended the Labour government’s decision, insisting: “UK national security and public safety must always be our top priority.”

“The assessments are very clear — this is not a non-violent organisation,” she added.

The government outlawed Palestine Action on July 7, days after it took responsibility for a break-in at an air force base in southern England that caused an estimated £7.0 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft.

The group said its activists were responding to Britain’s indirect military support for Israel amid the war in Gaza.

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Britain’s interior ministry has insisted that Palestine Action was also suspected of other “serious attacks” that involved “violence, significant injuries and extensive criminal damage”.

Critics, including the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Greenpeace, have slammed the proscription as legal overreach and warned that the ensuing arrests threaten free speech.

The UK’s Liberal Democrat party said that it was “deeply concerned about the use of terrorism powers against peaceful protesters”.

AFP