On Monday, Air Canada flight attendants went on strike. The airline canceled flights, disrupting hundreds of thousands of Canadians.

After months of negotiations. there was an impasse between management and workers. No talks were scheduled.

Within hours, the government ordered the strikers back to work. The argument was that the strike would be bad for the economy. (We’ll save the whole debate on government intervention into private labor disputes for another day perhaps.)

The union refused the return to work order. The threat of large fines didn’t phase them. Union leaders said they would go to jail to defend their constitutional right to collective bargaining.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the two sides managed to negotiate an agreement within hours of the union announcing its defiance of the law.

It looks to me like management had included government intervention as part of the strategy all along. When the government proved powerless to help them, they were willing to negotiate a deal.

Do you think the Liberal government has learned a lesson in this matter about not interfering in labor disputes unless absolutely necessary? Or about respecting the rights of workers and the collective bargaining process?

No, I don’t think so either.