Air Canada flight attendants reject new wage agreement

Tens of thousands of Air Canada’s flight attendants have overwhelmingly rejected a new wage agreement, reviving a bitter dispute that shut down hundreds of flights and left millions stranded in August. 

The union representing the flight attendants announced the results of the vote on Saturday, with 99.1% of its members voting against ratifying the airline’s wage offer.

Negotiators had struck a tentative deal on August 19 to end a four-day strike that led to flight attendants defying a government order to return to work and forcing Canada’s largest airline back to the bargaining table.

Air Canada said in a statement that it and the Canadian Union of Public Employees have agreed that there will be no strike or lockout and flights will continue as normal.

The airline confirmed that the wage portion of the deal will be referred to mediation and, if there is still no agreement reached at that stage, to arbitration. 

The strike cast a spotlight on demands by North American flight attendants to be paid for hours between the time they check in and the time they clock out. Under the current compensation structure of Air Canada and other US carriers, cabin crew are paid mainly when the aircraft is in the air. 

Air Canada said the wage offer had included compensation for work performed on the ground, along with sweeping changes to wages, pensions, and benefits. Despite these significant gains, several flight attendants expressed concern that the proposed contract still fell short on the issue of unpaid labour.

Under the proposed four-year deal, entry-level attendants would have received a wage hike of 20% and 16% for more experienced cabin crew. They would also have received 60 minutes of pre-flight pay on narrow-bodied planes and 70 minutes on wide-bodied jets. The pay would start at 50% of the flight attendants’ hourly rate in the first year and 70% by year four.

Flight attendants told Reuters that the wage increase was inadequate to cover the higher cost of living, especially in expensive cities such as Toronto, with many having to take on two to three jobs to get by.

Union president Mark Hancock alleged that the deal with Air Canada was done under the threat of criminal charges. "My understanding was the next day, if there was no deal, they would have gone to the courts and sought criminal contempt, then charges and fines," Hancock said. "It would have risen to the next level."