United in Struggle

CUPE Flight Attendants Have Broken the Bosses’ Status Quo!

August 18, 2025

The East Van Workers Assembly (EVWA) proudly stands with the 10,517 CUPE flight attendants on strike who have already scored a major victory for the entire working class by defying the bosses at Air Canada and the federal government’s vile and unconstitutional back to work order!

Over the past year, Canadian workers and unions have seen a major escalation of anti-strike activity by the monopoly capitalist class. Not content with the many tools – legal and extra-legal – they have used to suffocate our unions for decades, the ruling class has recently turned to s. 107 of the Canada Labour Code to stave off a new generation of fighting unionists. This new weapon gives the federal government virtually unlimited power to unilaterally crush strikes, in clear violation of our Charter rights to organize, collectively bargain, and strike. You can almost see the puppet strings attached to the politicians the way they’ve responded like clockwork to corporate demands to shut down major work stoppages at WestJet, CN Rail, CPKC, Canada Post, the Ports of Vancouver, Montreal, and Quebec City… and now at Air Canada.

But this time the ruling class’s heavy-handed repression is backfiring, and the labour movement is calling their bluff! Although Jobs Minister Patty Hadju ordered binding arbitration just 12 hours after the strike began on Friday night, followed Monday morning by a Canada Industrial Relations Board ruling declaring the strike illegal, CUPE’s Air Canada Component has refused to be cowed into submission. At this very moment, the picket lines are still up, the flight attendants are still out, and CUPE has announced that they will not heed the back to work order. Whatever happens next, the bravery of these unionized workers has already altered the landscape of labour relations and class struggle in Canada in a way the bosses can’t roll back.

On Sunday evening, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) held an emergency session where they united around a new shared policy: the fight to repeal s. 107 of the Canada Labour Code! What seemed unthinkable a week ago is now the stated goal of the highest labour movement body in the country, and this is because workers fought back. This is just the first step, however. With or without this particular tool, the ruling class has demonstrated time and again that workers’ rights and welfare are contingent on corporate profits, and that they will fight us tooth and nail to maintain their power. Anything that affects their bottom line can and will be attacked, and there is nothing the bosses fear more than our power to strike. 

The workers’ movement cannot afford to stop here. The unexpected boldness of the CLC on s. 107 is them finally catching up to what fighting unions and workers’ organizations like EVWA have been saying all along. We must use this new platform and the momentum of the flight attendants’ strike to unite our class, escalate the struggle, and raise ever higher demands. Within CUPE itself, there is currently a member-driven campaign to make the Right to Strike a major priority for the union at its National Convention in October. All CUPE members should sign the petition and tell your local leadership that they need to support this resolution! 

For the rest of the labour movement, a line has been drawn in the sand. We must rally around CUPE and defend them from whatever legal or financial repression the government might unleash. And we must also take this struggle into our own workplaces and unions: the power of the working class flows from our ability to shut down production, shut down transportation, and shut down business as usual. This is what our rights have been built on and this is how we will continue to defend and advance the interests of our class. Nothing else will make the bosses yield. Our “right to strike” means nothing while our picket lines can be broken at the employer’s request and the government dictates when and where workers are “allowed” to strike to defend ourselves. We need a political workers’ movement with militant unions at its core that can unite the millions of workers in this country and wield our power to strike without fear or restriction by the bosses! Let’s get moving!

SOLIDARITY WITH CUPE FLIGHT ATTENDANTS!

DOWN WITH S. 107 AND CORPORATE-GOVERNMENT COLLUSION!

ADVANCE THE FIGHT, DEFEND THE RIGHT TO STRIKE!