By resisting the back-to-work order, each union member faced fines of up to $1,000 a day. Since a tentative deal has been reached, this could tilt the scales towards unions who disregard federal use of Section 107.

Yesterday, Mark Hancock, CUPE’s national president, stood in front of dozens of reporters outside Toronto-Pearson airport, undeterred.

“If it means folks like me going to jail, so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it,” he said. Hancock insisted he does not believe the government’s order will survive a court challenge, which could take up to 10 years to go through the legal system — and now that a tentative deal has been made it is unclear whether charges will be pursued.

    • CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      It can make sense for people like doctors, whose absence would lead to huge, immediate deaths .

      But the government seems to mean “mildly inconvenience” when they say essential.

      In my opinion, if the government deems a group essential, they workers should immediately get a huge bonus, at the cost of the company, to equally apply pressure, something like everything the striking members are asking for (unless it’s patently absurd)

      • mad_lentil@lemmy.ca
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        2 days ago

        Yeah, if you’re considered too essential to strike, then your employer should be bending over backwards to ensure you’re not even considering it.

        Otherwise the label “essential” becomes a weapon to use against you if all it means is the government can side with your employer to force you back to work—if I’m an employer, why would I even bother negotiating in good faith if I had that in my back pocket?

        It almost worked, too, if not for some serious guts on the part of the workers and their union.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      Not necessarily

      Can you imagine all nurses and doctors striking for weeks on end, not caring for anyone?

      There is a point to it, it’s just that it’s abused to hell and back by companies and governments. In this case you can bet your ass that air Canada lobbied with the government to get these air crews declared essential.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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        2 days ago

        Can you imagine all nurses and doctors striking for weeks on end, not caring for anyone?

        I can, and in that case I’d want the government to crack down on the employers, not the workers. The other way around is slavery.