A passenger walks past striking Air Canada flight attendants as they defy a back-to-work order at Vancouver International Airport on Monday.Chris Helgren/Reuters
Last Sunday night, dozens of union heads convened at a hotel in downtown Toronto to declare their opposition to the federal government’s repeated use of Section 107 – a clause in the Canada Labour Code that gives Ottawa unilateral power to end strikes.
The Canada Labour Congress, which represents both public- and private-sector unions, organized the emergency session because of Ottawa’s decree to get striking Air Canada AC-T flight attendants back on the job, and their union’s subsequent decision to defy the order and continue striking illegally.
Within hours, major unions released a joint statement calling on the government to remove Section 107 from the federal labour code altogether. They also agreed to help striking flight attendants financially if they were fined for defying the back-to-work order.
Air Canada flight attendants to vote on labour deal starting next week
The show of unity harked back to November, 2022, when these same union heads condemned Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s use of the notwithstanding clause to shut down a strike of education workers.
But three years ago, things were much different: Inflation was sky-high and workers were acutely aware of how their wages had not kept up with prices. Labour momentum in Canada was strong at the time, with strike activity rising and unions securing bigger than usual wins at the bargaining table.
Since then, the balance of power between employers and employees has somewhat shifted back to the former group, fuelled by the trade war and the looming threat of widespread layoffs. Inflation, too, has tapered, yanking a powerful negotiating tool away from unions.
Even after Air Canada flight attendants netted a strong deal this week – and crucially, one that will end unpaid work – observers of the Canadian labour movement do not expect this momentum to last. In fact, they say the macroeconomic climate of lower inflation and rising economic uncertainty has chilled union militancy in Canada and cast a cloud of fear over workers.
“The Air Canada strike seems to have put fire in the bellies of unions temporarily. But it was a single episodic moment that likely does not indicate the resurgence of union power,” said Larry Savage, the chair of the department of labour studies at Brock University.
There is some evidence to suggest that unions have not been scoring wage increases as big as a few years ago. Data from the Ontario government shows that in 2022, the average wage increase in a new contract was 4 per cent amongst private-sector unions. In 2024, that number dipped to 3.8 per cent, and in 2025, it was 3.3 per cent.
Public-sector unions in Ontario have also seen a slight decline in the wage boosts they are securing for their members over the years. Wage increases peaked at 4 per cent in 2023 and have since dropped to 3.6 per cent.
Federal data show a similar trend. In 2023, the average annual wage increase of federally regulated unionized employees in the private sector was 4.2 per cent. In 2024, that number was 3.1 per cent. Federal public-sector employees have also seen their wage increases dip slightly over the years, from 3.5 per cent in 2023, to 3.2 per cent in 2025.
Prior to the pandemic and across the country, unions struggled to negotiate wages that surpassed 2 per cent, because of low inflation.
“The pandemic context was somewhat unique. Inflation precipitated a cost-of-living crisis that lit a fire under labour, and unions were confronted with members’ raised expectations and a new willingness to fight,” explained Adam King, an assistant professor of labour studies at the University of Manitoba.
Prof. King said that with the labour market softening and inflation subsiding, unions’ structural leverage has perhaps weakened.
An Air Canada flight attendant at Toronto Pearson airport on Tuesday after the strike ended. Though the union netted a strong deal, observers of Canada’s labour movement do not expect the momentum to last.Carlos Osorio/Reuters
Air Canada flight attendants were able to get a cumulative wage gain of between 16 per cent to 20 per cent over a four-year contract, and an end to unpaid work. Labour experts said there were several factors working in their favour, helping them secure a better deal than other recent bargaining agreements.
“They were coming out of a 10-year contract, which is rare. They had not had a wage increase since 2015 and so they were playing catch-up,” said Prof. Savage.
He believes that flight attendants were uniquely positioned to rally support for their cause because of the public-facing nature of their jobs. “Most people have interacted with a flight attendant, and many were shocked to know they do not get paid for preflight work. That galvanized momentum for them.”
The repeated use of Section 107 (Ottawa has invoked the clause six times in the past two years) also drove unions to support striking flight attendants because they perceived it as the federal government siding with the employer and undermining the collective bargaining process.
“If there is one thing that will unite public- and private-sector workers in Toronto on a Sunday in August, it is heavy-handed government,” said J.P. Hornick, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.
One of the more contentious labour disputes over the past year has been between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Both sides have been negotiating for 18 months and are still not close to reaching a deal. Postal workers went on strike last November but gained little public support and were ordered by Ottawa to return to their jobs after almost a month of being on strike. Indeed, the strike did little to give CUPW increased leverage at the bargaining table.
“There was a window of opportunity in the wake of the pandemic for unions to make significant advances for workers. That window has closed for a large proportion of workers,” Prof. Savage said.
But union leaders themselves have a vastly different perspective on the climate of the labour movement. They believe the underlying factors that fuelled workers’ anger during the pandemic – the high cost of living and worsening wealth inequality – remain present.
Statistics Canada’s latest data on the income gap showed that in the first quarter of 2025, the difference between the country’s highest- and lowest-income households reached a record high. While the richest households are gaining income exponentially from investments, the poorest households are seeing relative wage declines.
“You cannot have this level of wealth disparity and not have it impact organizing. We are seeing workers angrier than ever about how their wages have not kept up with the price of goods while executive compensation is on the rise,” said Hornick.
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There is scant data to analyze successes in the labour movement over the span of the past five years. Data from Employment and Social Development Canada show that strike activity peaked in 2023, from 2015, but the first five months of 2024 show a return to pre-2023 levels.
Unifor had more than 100 strikes since their August, 2022, convention, according to the private-sector union. There have been 16 labour disputes so far in 2025, and there were 30 in 2024.
Bea Bruske, the president of the Canada Labour Congress, said that there is an increased understanding among workers about how important it is to belong to a union. “As we face a tariff threat, I think workers know unions are there to negotiate with employers about how layoffs are done, and what severance a worker is entitled to. That will be important as we weather economic turmoil.”
Two labour wins in British Columbia this July perhaps underscore this point. Uber drivers in Victoria joined the United Food and Commercial Workers union to become the first platform workers to successfully unionize in Canada. Amazon warehouse workers in Delta obtained union certification with Unifor, becoming the second Amazon warehouse to unionize in Canada.
These successes are rare, especially given the size and corporate might of the employers these workers were unionizing against. B.C. labour laws, which restored single-step union certification (meaning that workers just have to vote once to unionize, and not twice like in most other provinces) also made the process easier.
Employers say unions have been particularly disruptive over the past five years and are actively campaigning for legal changes that could limit the disruption posed by strikes. An industry association for federally regulated employers in the transportation and communications sectors, known as FETCO, says that the anti-replacement worker ban that took effect in July will lead to more frequent strikes and disrupt services Canadians rely on. The legislation bans companies from using replacement workers to staff jobs when employees are on strike.
Labour leaders believe the legislation was an effective tool in making strikes meaningful and enhancing the collective bargaining system. The employers’ association says the law is too broad and wants employers to be able to use workers in other parts of the company to replace striking workers during labour disputes.
Prof. King at the University of Manitoba believes that even though striking power during the pandemic was somewhat unique, there is still an appetite for confrontation coming from union members. “Strikes such as those at Air Canada demonstrate that gains are still possible with sufficient organization,” he said.