An Air Canada jet taxis at the airport in Vancouver on Nov. 15, 2023. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld
An Aug. 14 Air Canada press conference was interrupted and cancelled after flight attendant union members who are soon set to strike walked through holding up protest signs criticizing the airline.
The incident occurred as Air Canada announced the cancellation of 500 flights, noting that it plans to phase in a full stoppage of all Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights by Aug. 16 if a deal is not reached with the union by then.
Dozens of union members interrupted the press conference carrying signs with slogans complaining about work conditions and pay at Air Canada, including “Poverty Wages = unCanadian,” “Unpaid Work Won’t Fly,” and “UnfAir Canada.” Air Canada spokesperson Christophe Hennebelle called the entrance of the protesters “unfortunate” and said they were “not allowing reporters to do their job” during the media questioning period of the press conference. When union members didn’t respond to Hennebelle’s questions about their intentions, he said the press conference was cancelled.
More than 99 percent of 10,000 flight attendants who belong to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) voted to authorize their union to strike on Aug. 5 and began picketing at major airports on Aug. 11. This was followed by a 72-hour strike notice on Aug. 13 and Air Canada subsequently declaring a lockout.
The crux of the disagreement in the past eight months of negotiations is around wages and unpaid work for flight attendants, who are only paid while the plane is in the air and not for work they do ahead of or after their shift in helping passengers and getting reading for boarding or deplaning.
“Flight attendants perform 35 hours of unpaid work, on average, every month while taking responsibility for hundreds of lives,” Air Canada’s CUPE chapter president Wesley Lesosky said in a statement. “It’s things like prepping the aircraft, boarding and deplaning passengers, gate duties, safety checks and training.”
CUPE rejected an Aug. 11 offer from Air Canada that included a 38 percent pay raise over the next four years, longer rest time for crews, and increased pensions and benefits. According to the union, starting wages for flight attendants have only risen 10 percent in the past 25 years, while inflation has risen 169 percent in the same time period.
According to Air Canada, a flight attendant can expect to earn around $70,000 per year after working for the company for 10 years. Lesosky disputed this, saying Air Canada is inflating the salary estimate and that an entry-level full-time flight attendant earns only $1,952 per month before taxes and sometimes rely on food banks to survive.
For its part, Air Canada said Aug. 14 that its final offer to union members is reasonable and offers better wages than industry peers.
“It will make Air Canada Flight Attendants the best compensated in Canada. Already, cabin crew earn up to $17 more per hour than their counterparts at the company’s largest domestic competitor,” the airline said, adding that “hourly rates would go as high as $94 an hour in the first year.”
An Aug. 14 statement posted on X by Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu said Wednesday’s strike notice and lockout “is causing a great deal of frustration and anxiety to Canadians who are travelling or worrying about how they will get home,” adding that in meeting with both parties, she has “strongly urged them to come to an agreement.”
Hajdu added that Air Canada has requested binding arbitration, in which a neutral, independent arbitrator listens to the arguments of both sides and then makes a final, legally binding decision that forces a resolution to the dispute. Hajdu says the union has until Aug. 15 to respond to Air Canada’s request to move the matter to binding arbitration.
Around 130,000 passengers fly on Air Canada flights daily, including 25,000 Canadians per day returning from other countries. Air Canada said it is rebooking passengers who’ve lost their flights on other airlines or offering a full refund to those who lose their flights as a result of the labour disruption.
