Air Canada’s 6,800 flight attendants called off their planned strike after a move from the federal Conservatives made a walkout illegal.

The procedural move came after Labour Minister Lisa Raitt sent the long-simmering dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for review, citing concern about whether the flight attendants provide an essential service so the health and safety of the nation would be in jeopardy in the event of a strike.

She questioned whether a settlement could even be reached, given rank-and-file members have twice rejected tentative deals that union officials had recommended for ratification.

If the board determines “conditions are unfavourable” to a settlement, Raitt wants it to either impose a new collective agreement or force binding arbitration.

In an internal bulletin Wednesday afternoon, the Canadian Union of Public Employees told its members the strike was essentially postponed.

“The union advises you that you cannot strike,” the bulletin said. “This outrageous interference by the Harper government is truly disappointing to the union.”

In an interview on television, CUPE national president Paul Moist called Raitt’s move a delaying tactic until Parliament returns from the Thanksgiving break to bring in back-to-work legislation.

“Strikes are inconvenient,” Moist said. “But it’s pretty inconvenient for Air Canada employees not to have the right to strike.”

In a news release, the union emphasized that “at no time did the employer make a formal request for the maintenance of ‘essential services’ in the event of a strike.”

In a statement, Air Canada said it hopes the matter will be resolved at the industrial relations board.

“We accordingly expect that this process will lead to a definitive resolution for our customers,” the airline said. “In the meantime, it remains business as usual at Air Canada and all flights will continue to operate as scheduled.”

It is unclear how long a review by the industrial relations board, a quasi-judicial agency, will take. The last essential services question involving the West Coast ports dispute took about two months.

It is believed to be rare for a board to impose a collective agreement, as Raitt has asked it to consider doing.

The best-known decision dates back to a 1992 dispute involving workers at the Royal Oak Mines in the Northwest Territories.

It was a bitter 18-month strike that included allegations of bad faith bargaining, and the dispute resulted in firings, members crossing picket lines and fatalities after an underground explosion that led to murder charges.

Then, the labour board had warned it would impose a contract crafted by mediators. The case, which eventually went all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada, determined the board had the authority to impose a contract.

Laurel MacDowell, a history professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in industrial relations, called the Harper government’s intervention unusual.

“It puts the board in a difficult position. It will be very interesting to see what they [the board] say. They may realize they are being used and they may be quite frank about that.”

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The board may encourage Air Canada and the union to go back to the bargaining table, or the board may decide that the flight attendants have the right to strike “at which point the ball will be back in the government’s court,” MacDowell said.

Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan deemed Raitt’s actions an abuse of power.

“She’s abusing the Canada Labour Code just to jerry around with the system,” he said, arguing this is not an essential service situation, given there are other airlines and Air Canada has said it could operate a partial schedule in the event of a strike.

“Who knows what they’ll do once they get into Parliament? Will they find some other little trick to pass legislation before they even go out on strike?” Ryan said.

Ned Franks, a professor emeritus of political studies at Queen’s University, said ultimately Parliament could pass legislation to bar flight attendants from striking altogether.

“Parliament is supreme. It can amend any law that it has passed, so if there are legal obstacles introducing do not strike legislation, they can be handled in a bill,” Franks said.

“They would have a great desire, this government, when they find somebody they consider the enemy, they not only want to smite them, they want to smite them mightily.”

This is just the latest in a year of labour uncertainty at Air Canada, which has argued the airline must ensure it is financially stable, given the tough economic situation and heightened competition from discount airlines at home as well as cheaper flights at cross-border airports like Buffalo.

Air Canada employees say they have already made significant concessions, including taking pay cuts when the airline was on the brink of bankruptcy, and were expecting to make gains this year now that the airline is in the black.

Customer service agents went on strike for three days in June and quickly settled when Raitt prepared back-to-work legislation.

Pilots also rejected a tentative deal reached in the spring, and members were so upset with their union that they booted out a number of top officials. A new bargaining committee has been struck, though talks have not resumed.

With files from Madhavi Acharya Tom-Yew

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