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Air Canada suspended plans to restart operations Sunday after the union representing 10,000 flight attendants said it will defy a return-to-work order. The strike was already affecting about 130,000 travelers per day during the peak summer travel season. The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered airline staff back to work by 2 p.m. Sunday after the government intervened and Air Canada said it planned to resume flights Sunday evening. Canadas largest airline now says it will resume flights Monday evening. Air Canada said in a statement that the union illegally directed its flight attendant members to defy a direction from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board. Our members are not going back to work, Canadian Union of Public Employees national president Mark Hancock said outside Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. We are saying no. Hancock ripped up a copy of the back-to-work order outside the airports departures terminal where union members were picketing Sunday morning. He said they won’t return Tuesday either. Flight attendants chanted Dont blame me, blame AC outside Pearson. Like many Canadians, the Minister is monitoring this situation closely. The Canada Industrial Relations Board is an independent tribunal,” Jennifer Kozelj, a spokeswoman for Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said in a emailed statement. Hancock said the whole process has been unfair and said the union will challenge what it called an unconstitutional order. Less than 12 hours after workers walked off the job,)Hajdu ordered the 10,000 flight attendants back to work, saying now is not the time to take risks with the economy and noting the unprecedented tariffs the U.S. has imposed on Canada. Hajdu referred the work stoppage to the Canada Industrial Relations Board. The airline said the CIRB has extended the term of the existing collective agreement until a new one is determined by the arbitrator. The shutdown of Canadas largest airline early Saturday was impacting about 130,000 people a day. Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day. Tourist Mel Durston from southern England was trying to make the most of sightseeing in Canada. But she said she doesnt have a way to continue her journey. We wanted to go see the Rockies, but we might not get there because of this, Durston said. We might have to head straight back.” James Hart and Zahara Virani were visiting Toronto from Calgary, Alberta for what they thought would be a fun weekend. But they ended up paying $2,600 Canadian ($1,880) to fly with another airline on a later day after their Air Canada flight got canceled. Its a little frustrating and stressful, but at the same time, I dont blame the flight attendants at all, Virani said. What theyre asking for is not unreasonable whatsoever.” Flight attendants walked off the job around 1 a.m. EDT on Saturday. Around the same time, Air Canada said it would begin locking flight attendants out of airports. The bitter contract fight escalated Friday as the union turned down Air Canadas prior request to enter into government-directed arbitration, which allows a third-party mediator to decide the terms of a new contract. Last year, the government forced the countrys two major railroads into arbitration with their labor union during a work stoppage. The union for the rail workers is suing, arguing the government is removing a unions leverage in negotiations. Hajdu maintained that her Liberal government is not anti-union, saying it is clear the two sides are at an impasse. Passengers whose flights are impacted will be eligible to request a full refund on the airlines website or mobile app, according to Air Canada. The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible. Still, it warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because flights on other airlines are already full due to the summer travel peak. Air Canada and CUPE have been in contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal. Both sides have said they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes arent in the air. The airlines latest offer included a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions, over four years, that it said would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada. But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8% raise in the first year didnt go far enough because of inflation. Rob Gillies, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Soho House is a public company nomo. Soho House, a hotel and private club chain, is being acquired by MCR Hotelsgoing private, and it is also adding some new names to its leadership team. The company first went public in 2021, and along with Mondays announcement, says that Neil Thomson will become the companys new CFO, MCRs chairman and CEO Tyler Morse will join its Board of Directions, as will Ashton Kutcher, an actor whos gone on to become a rather prominent investor in recent years. The deal has reportedly been brewing since December, and shareholders will receive $9 per share, which is a premium of 18% over Fridays closing price. MCR Hotels operates 150 hotels in 37 states, including the TWA Hotel, Gramercy Park Hotel, Pasadena Hotel & Pool, and High Line Hotels in New York City, where Soho House New York is located. Soho Houses global network comprises 46 Houses, which will be added to the mix. Since our IPO in 2021, weve focused on building a stronger, more resilient business. Against a backdrop of challenging economic conditions and global uncertainty, from 2022-2024 we delivered consistent, disciplined growth with revenue increasing at an average annual rate of double digit growth, Andrew Carnie, Soho Houses CEO said in a statement. Returning to private ownership enables us to build on this momentum, with the support of world class hospitality and investment partners. Further, Morse said that MCRs investment in Soho House represents a strategic opportunity to combine our operational expertise with one of the most distinctive brands in hospitality. Our shared goal is to safeguard the member experience, drive sustainable international growth for House members, and protect and expand the cultural and creative foundation that has made Soho House a global industry leader. In recent months, Soho House has put up solid numbers. Its latest earnings report, which came out earlier this month, showed total revenue growing nearly 9% year-over-year to roughly $330 million. However, since the company went public, its shares are down almost 30%.
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E-Commerce
On an average day, tens of millions of people visit The New York Times Games section to solve the latest crossword puzzle, keep their Wordle streak alive, or see if they can figure out the mystery of that day’s Connections puzzle. Two-thirds of the site’s weekly visitors play two or more games. Half play four or more. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, The Times only occasionally releases new game offeringstypically one per year. So that makes Monday’s release of Pips, the latest permanent addition to the collection especially significant. It’s not only new, it’s a new kind of puzzle, eschewing wordplay for logic. And if the reactions to the beta test (which launched in Canada in April)and the outcry when The Times took the game offline for final polishingare any indication, the company might have found its next big hit. Reddit users have been mourning its absence for over a month, debating whether the game would return and when. Reviews of the beta were glowing, calling it “a brilliant fusion of classic gaming elements and modern puzzle design.” “We wanted to do something that was original and fresh, but still familiar,” says Jonathan Knight, senior vice president and head of games at The New York Times. Pips was first proposed last year and the team has been working on it throughout 2025. It’s a puzzle-based take on dominoes that lets users choose between three difficulty levels. Each game board has a series of conditions (for instance, in some regions, you must have the same number of pips, the dots on a domino, in each box, while in others, the pips must add up to a certain number). Like sudoku, it’s about balance. You have to place your dominoes in a pattern that satisfies all of the different requirements. Easy puzzles in Pips have players placing four or five dominoes. Hard ones will have up to 16. There are no time limits. If you get the puzzle wrong, you can go back and continue working on it. And the game will show you the areas you need to correct. “It’s very hard in life to finish anything,” says Ian Livengood, puzzle editor of Pips. “So there’s something very satisfying about being able to finish [this game].” [Image: The New York Times] Hooking the player In a world where it’s increasingly difficult to capture people’s attention, The Times has had incredible success. Last year, its puzzles were played 11.1 billion times. Of that number, nearly half was focused on Wordle, which was played 5.3 billion times in 2024. (Every minute, the company says, more than 2,000 people share their Wordle score.) Connections, introduced in 2023, was played 3.3 billion times. The Games team says it doesn’t focus on those numbers, but it does challenge itself to create titles that draw people back again and again. Most ideas don’t make the cut. Several dozen concepts are pitched each year, from all corners of the company via hackathons and other initiatives. The majority of those concepts don’t get too far. Some, like Zorse (a phrase-guessing game introduced last year) get as far as public beta tests before they’re rejected. It comes down, generally, to the elusive fun factor. “We focus very much first on the mechanics and finding the fun,” says Knight. With Pips, he says, there weren’t a lot of major changes from the game’s concept to its final execution. Most of the evolution was in how the game visually communicated the requirements of the puzzle to the player. Livengood says the hook for Pips as well as other Times games is their level of visual clarity. They’re not designed to overwhelm you. You can look at the games and generally figure out what you’re supposed to do in a very short amount of time. While games like Candy Crush use AI to create and optimize levels, puzzles at The New York Times, whether in Pips, Wordle, or any other game, are handcrafted. “There’s always a person behind the game,” Livengood says. “And increasingly, with AI and computer-generated algorithms, that feels almost refreshing. It’s comforting knowing there’s a person behind it.” A less-is-more approach also helps draw people back in. Times games are designed to only take a few minutes, then you’re free (and encouraged) to go about your day. “It fits into your life,” says Knight. “We’re not trying to get you to stay in our app 24 hours a day. We’re not nagging you constantly. A healthy, time well-spent cadence has been what makes us so successful.” Pips could get people to stick around a little longer, though. With three possible daily puzzles, people who get hooked could opt to play more than once per day. Pips is also the first new game from the Times team that will launch simultaneously on both the web and on the app. (Traditionally, games would launch on one first, then the other months later.) “That represents us getting stronger and better at what we’re doing,” says Knight.
Category:
E-Commerce
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