Nationair was always forcing us to work long hours. Sleeping or 'appearing to be sleeping' was cause for dismissal. Keep in mind that one hour of work at cruise is equivalent to about 2 on earth. Even though our contract said the absolute, positive maximum working day was to be 18 hours long, they routinely forced us to work over that in the case of a delay.

Call us crazy, but we didn't think that was safe!

Neither did the 10 flight attendants on a flight that took a mechanical delay in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The flight was originally supposed to be a turnaround back to Montreal. Normally about an 8 hour duty day.

Seems alot of the passengers' confidence in the condition of the 747aircraft was not forthcoming when they saw the engineer out doing something to the engine with a hammer. This, and lack of airconditioning and intermittent power outages while on the ground, prompted several passengers to get off the plane, refusing to fly on it.

Because the flight attendants had been on duty for close to 15 hours with a minimum to eat, and had no breaks because passengers were kept on board during the delay, they refused to work the return flight because they did not feel they were able to effectively carry out their duties in the event of an emergency.

The Captain's reaction, screaming at them in the cabin, sweating and turning shades of red, did not indicate to them that he was in any better condition than they were. He ordered the doors closed, in an attempt to keep the Flight Attendants on board, regardless of the fact some passengers were standing on the jet way, refusing to get on. His claim that he was going to fly higher and faster, to get them into Montreal in just under an 18 hour duty day didn't wash.

When the Captain announced to the passengers on board that the flight was going to be cancelled because some of the flight attendants were refusing to work, the cabin broke out into applause.

Ten of the 12 flight attendants were fired. Unfortunately, the reinstatement case never got heard in court as Nationair went bankrupt before the hearing dates. It would have been an important case, as even today, many flight attendants are afraid to exercise their right to refuse unsafe work, because they are afraid of getting fired and/or pressured into working, and then grieving the case later.

They are afraid to fly on an aircraft that they feel is unsafe, but are more afraid of losing their jobs than losing their lives.

We saw repeats of the same type of situation after the crash in Saudi Arabia when flight attendants wished to exercise their right to refuse unsafe work under the provisions of Canadian law.The DC-8's really started to scare people, especially in their usual state of disrepair. When the Flight attendant wished to exercise the right, the captain would often order the door closed as there is nothing you can do once the 'place of employment' starts to move.

I once experienced something very similar in Gatwick some time after the Pan Am 103 bombing. A passenger who had spent well over 15 minutes on board got off with no carry on baggage. No one knew if he had come on with any.

Our flight had 1 more person on board than it should have. After numerous announcements that "this plane is going to TORONTO", this person, who spoke English, finally got up and left. The ground agents as well as the Captain ignored crew and passenger concerns about what this person was doing and whether he'd left anything on-board. Several passengers said they'd seen him acting suspiciously and moving from seat to seat. They were visibly upset.

When we as flight attendants voiced our concerns about the possibility of foul play, that passengers were upset and that perhaps it wasn't safe, the Captain ordered the doors closed and pushed the aircraft back. He said nothing to alleviate anyones' concerns, including several passengers who were in tears, thinking the jig was up.

Thank you for flying with us today indeed.