Air Transat flight attendants have rejected the tentative agreement reached on January 7. The vote was not close: 81.9% voted no, with 88.7% of members participating in the vote.
The Air Transat Component, which represents 2,100 Transat flight attendants, is part of CUPE's Airline Division. In a statement announcing the agreement’s rejection, CUPE says remuneration for hours worked on the ground before takeoff and after landing, as well as the question of onboard staffing, are the main sticking points.
Now it’s back to the bargaining table. The voting process also included a question whether to renew the strike mandate which had expired on January 23. Members voted 94.6% in favour of a new mandate, which will remain in effect until April 1.
Transat flight attendants have been without a collective agreement since October 31, 2022. Negotiations began in April, 2023, but by November the flight attendants adopted a strike mandate by a nearly unanimous vote of 99.8.
An initial tentative agreement was reached on December 14, but on January 2, the union announced that flight attendants had voted 98.1% to reject it, with 87% of members participating in the vote.
CUPE says that to prioritize the resumption of negotiations, the union will not issue any further comments on the refusal of the tentative agreement.
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