‘Our job is far from done’: Air Canada Flight Attendants Vote on Tentative Agreement

Air Canada flight attendants will vote this week on the wage increases proposed in the mediated contract that ended the August strike.

The vote is being held from Aug. 27 until Sept. 6. The 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants represented by the CUPE have the option to ratify the deal or vote against it. “If the membership votes no, the wage portion of the tentative agreement will be referred to arbitration,” Hugh Pouliot, Senior Communications Officer at CUPE told TravelPulse Canada. “All other items, including ground pay, are secured and final.”

Despite the federal government's quick invocation of section 107 of the labour code, ordering flight attendants back to work, the labour action was hailed as a landmark in union-employer relations. “The Canadian labour movement owes Air Canada flight attendants an enormous debt. Facing the government down took tremendous courage. Workers across industries can look to this example for inspiration,” writes The Maple.

Ground Pay and Wage Increase

The fact that Air Canada flight attendants will be paid at all for their time on the ground is being hailed as a victory. “This labour action achieved two things: a significant increase in the employer’s offer on ground pay, which will become the best ground pay in North America by the end of the contract,” said Pouliot,  “and a clear signal to the federal government to stop interfering on behalf of the bosses to poison collective bargaining in Canada.”

Under the new contract, flight attendants will receive half their hourly wage rate for 60 minutes of ground time on narrow-body aircraft and 70 minutes on wide-body planes. That will rise to 60 percent of the hourly wage rate next April, 65 per cent in 2027 and 70 per cent in 2028.

The union sent a message to its members urging them to accept the deal, reports The Globe and Mail. According to the report, the letter also notes that Air Canada refused to move on wages and the mediator present at the negotiation was also unsuccessful in pushing the airline to budge on wages.

Some flight attendants are unhappy with the tentative agreement, which outlines a 12 percent salary increase this year for most junior flight attendants, while more senior members would receive an eight percent increase. All members would get a three percent raise in 2026, followed by 2.5 percent in 2027 and 2.75 per cent in 2028. 

It feels like a raw deal to some flight attendants, especially when compared with the 26 percent increase for Air Canada pilots in year one of their contract, and a 42 percent cumulative wage increase over a four-year period negotiated by ALPA, the pilots’ union, last year. 

'We will continue this fight'

The strike action is over now, but it’s clear emotions are still high. In an impassioned letter to Air Canada passengers and Canadians in general, Henly Larden, Air Canada flight attendant & VP of CUPE 4094, writes:

“The frustration persists because we cannot ignore the fact that our voices - individual and collective - were stifled by our company and by the government that is meant to represent us, not repress us.”

Larden thanks Canadians for their support, and vows to keep up the fight:

"What is clear to me, and to many of my colleagues, is that our struggle to be recognized is not over. Unpaid work is not over. We have made important progress, but our job is far from done.

Although we will not be returning to a picket line this year, we will continue pushing those responsible for putting us in our current predicament and the ones with the power to change it: the government of Canada.

We will continue this fight, with public rallies and political lobbying. But in order to be successful, we still need the support of you - our passengers."

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