Air Canada says there will be no strike or lockout after the airline’s flight attendants massively rejected the employer’s wage offer following a vote on a new contract that ended Saturday. Close to 10,000 flight attendants almost unanimously (99.1%) voted down the airline’s wage offer, which included a 12% salary increase this year for most junior flight attendants and an 8% bump for more senior members, followed by smaller raises in subsequent years.
Now, the airline says the wage portion will now be referred to mediation as previously agreed to by both sides.
“Air Canada and CUPE contemplated this potential outcome and mutually agreed that if the tentative agreement was not ratified, the wage portion would be referred to mediation and, if no agreement was reached at that stage, to arbitration,” the airline said in a statement shortly after the results were released by the union.
“The parties also agreed that no labour disruption could be initiated, and therefore there will be no strike or lockout, and flights will continue to operate.”
The Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) says most terms would still form part of a new collective agreement with the airline, with the exception of the wage issue.
The tentative deal that was voted down, which ended a strike at the airline last month, raised wages for workers and established a pay structure for time worked when aircraft are on the ground.
The union said 99.4% of membership took part in the vote, which opened Aug. 27 and ended on Saturday.
A three-day strike ended Aug. 19 with the help of a federal mediator after upending thousands of customers’ travel plans.
Union response
In the aftermath the overwhelming rejection of the company’s offer, CUPE says that even with the proposed increase, Air Canada flight attendants would still earn less than federal minimum wage, which is $17.75 per hour or $2,840 per month on a 40-hour workweek. By contrast, a full-time Rouge flight attendant would earn just $2,219 per month, and a full-time mainline flight attendant would earn only $2,522 per month.
“Full-time workers at a flagship corporation and the national air carrier should not be earning less than minimum wage and qualifying for income supports,” says the union, which blamed the “the corrosive role the federal government played in these negotiations” and claimed that “Air Canada never bargained in good faith on wages.”
CUPE continued: “The issue of wages will now proceed to mediation, and then arbitration if necessary. However, the larger issue of recognizing the vital safety role of flight attendants and compensating them for that work remains unresolved. Air Canada flight attendants were able to obtain partial pay for some of their ground duties in this round of bargaining, representing important progress in the fight to end unpaid work. This is only the beginning.”
Air Canada says it is “fully committed” to the mediation and arbitration process and added, “We deeply appreciate the patience and the confidence our customers have shown as we worked through this process.”
If this article was shared with you by a friend or colleague, you may enjoy receiving your own copy of Travel Industry Today with the latest travel news and reviews each weekday morning. It’s absolutely free – just CLICK HERE.