Update: As of Tuesday August 19, 2025, a tentative agreement has been reached between Air Canada and its flight attendants. I am leaving this post up because it is still important to remember things happen and that we as citizens can have a role. The letters are gone for now.

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Why I Wrote These Section 107 Letters—And How to Send Yours Today.

What happened

At 11:58pm, August 15, Air Canada flight attendants went on a legal strike after months of bargaining with the corporation Air Canada. Less than twelve hours later the Minister of Jobs and Families invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code lets the government force both parties to binding arbitration.

What is Section 107? One line version: it lets the federal government tell the labour board to order the parties back to work and into a forced solution.

Why This Matters

There are a lot of reasons they have been trying to get a better contract, “wages and ground pay — which compensates flight attendants for work while the plane is grounded — among the key sticking points keeping the parties from reaching a deal.” They get paid in really archaic ways that maybe made sense fifty years ago yet really don’t anymore.

To be honest, the reasons should not really be the point here. The public shouldn’t get to decide how well someone is or isn’t compensated for their job. Air Canada is making lots of money for the company and its shareholders yet says it can’t do anything for its flight attendants, offering less than inflation for an increase. The two parties have been negotiating for months, the Union has stated publicly that it wants to keep negotiating, and when things broke down and they utilized a tool like striking the company, Air Canada, went to the government and asked them to force binding arbitration.

Why this matters to me

I have a lot of friends who are flight attendats and nurses and heavy labourers and I am tired of watching these labour laws be wasted away by people who have benefited from them, or in never-had-a-job-Poilievre case never used them. Personally, I fly a lot for The GM Tim and I’ve had to put things on hold, even cancel a couple plans, because of the uncertainty this strike caused and I’m still not mad at the union members.

Binding arbitration, in plain language

Binding arbitration kills leverage. Let me put it to you this way. Being forced into binding arbitration in a union company sense is the equivalent to you fighting with your sibling over who has the bigger piece of something, and in this case the company does, until your dad decides he’s going to just take it all away leaving no one happy. Now, while the government isn’t going to take it all away from both parties like Dad does, they are likely going to force the union to accept a middle road (for things like unpaid work). That isn’t a compromise that benefits them and will continue to benefit the company, because by the union’s account they already don’t pay them.

Ok, So What Can We Do?

If you work any job and you were told you had to work for hours without getting paid, you wouldn’t be thrilled either right? The thing that really depressurises my cabin here is that the Minister of Jobs used this force arbitration clause mere hours after the start of the strike. That’s as bogus as trying to skate outside in summer. Never mind as soon as the arbitration is applied, Air Canada will just raise their prices and blame the Union when those of us, who already don’t understand the money grab for carry-on charges, get mad at them. After the year we’ve had with layoffs, a stressful election, unemployment highs, federal refusal to engage in more social policies, companies making offensive amounts of profits despite that, by the way big shock, DO NOT TRCIKLE DOWN AT ALL, and our neighbours to the South getting absolutely hockey pucked by their own government, I was really hoping this government would be better than a Conservative one. We didn’t vote for that party and it’s policies afterall.

Rather than just being angry I have sent emails to Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu, Prime Minister Mark Carney, and my local Member of Parliament. I may not be able to change minds with one email, I’m just tired of doing the Canadian thing of “be angry for three years then vote as if it all makes it better next time.” I am utilizing my rights of my civic interaction.

I don’t like this decision my government made towards its own people. They have a minority government and need votes to keep it. I’m going to let them know how unhappy I am now, not wait for an election.

Templates and How to Use Them

I’ve shared these emails as templates you can personalise, then send to members of parliament. To make it as few steps as possible: change your name and postal code (that matters for staff so they can sort it), and look up your MP. I included a link to the Government of Canada website where your postal code tells you who that is if you don’t know.

Send yours in 3 minutes

1. Pick a template
   Prime Minister • Minister of Jobs • Your MP
2. Personalize 2 lines
   Who you are, and why this matters to you.
3. Include your postal code and send
   Helps staff route your email quickly.

Last Word

There are times when being frustrated with government can feel insurmountable. Its important to remember that there are only just 40 million people in Canada. Not everyone makes noise, so when enough of us do people tend to listen.

Good luck flight attendants.

If you sent a letter, comment ‘sent’ so others see their is momentum.