The Air Canada flight attendants’ union announced on Monday its commitment to continue the strike despite the declaration that the strike is illegal, which has entered its third day. The strike at Canada’s largest airline affects about 130,000 passengers daily during the peak summer travel season, with major disputes between the union and airline management over wages and other issues. Air Canada suspended plans to resume operations on Sunday after the union rejected a previous order to return to work. The company announced that operations would resume Monday evening, but the union president denied this. Mark Hancock, the national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees representing Air Canada flight attendants, said, “If Air Canada thinks planes will take off this afternoon, they are completely mistaken.

That will not happen today… we will not return to the skies.” The union rejected a second order to return to work issued earlier by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board after declaring the strike illegal. The board announced that the strike involving about 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants is illegal and ordered them to return to their jobs after ignoring a previous return-to-work order and filing for arbitration in the dispute with management. The board, an independent administrative tribunal interpreting and applying Canadian labor laws, stated in a written decision: “Members of the union bargaining unit are required to immediately resume their duties and refrain from engaging in illegal strike activities.” The board added that the union must provide written notice to all its members by noon today to resume work.

It is not yet clear what action the board or government will take after the union’s refusal to comply and continuation of the strike.