In announcing its tentative deal with the Air Canada on behalf of the airline’s flight attendants yesterday, the Canadian Union of Public Employees declared “unpaid work is over” after making it a central issue in its push for a new contract.
The deal comes more than two years after the union that represents flight attendants launched a campaign against the industry norm, where flight attendants aren’t paid their hourly wage during boarding, pre-flight safety checks and other delays.
Air Canada looks to be joining a growing number of airlines that have agreed to move away from the widespread practice.
York University labour professor Steven Tufts says the practice started before flight attendants had much power and it provided airlines with consistency in costs, even as unions have pushed wages up to help compensate for the unpaid time.
He says widespread delays and extra stresses since the COVID-19 pandemic pushed flight attendants to make a more concerted effort to end the practice.
Air Canada’s agreement to move away from the practice follows on American Airlines flight attendants securing pay for boarding time in a contract last year, while Delta Air Lines started providing some degree of ground pay in 2022.
On Monday, Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said the federal government would launch a probe into “allegations of unpaid work” in the airline sector. She reiterated in a Tuesday statement after the tentative deal was reached that “nobody should work for free.”
“Although the Canada Labour Code expressly prohibits unpaid work, these concerning allegations are very serious and we will get to the bottom of it,” she said.
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