Air Canada flight attendants have voted to turn down the tentative agreement that ended a three-day strike last month — but flights will continue to take off, the airline said.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Air Canada component (CUPE), which represents more than 10,000 flight attendants working for Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, announced that an overwhelming majority — 99 per cent — of voters rejected the deal on Saturday afternoon.
“Even with the proposed increase, Air Canada flight attendants would still earn less than federal minimum wage,” CUPE wrote in a statement.
“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.”
Negotiations surrounding wages will now move to mediation and, possibly, arbitration — but there will be no strike or lockout, according to a statement published by Air Canada following the announcement.
“Air Canada is fully committed to the mediation and arbitration process,” the statement said.
“The negotiations period has been challenging for all Air Canada stakeholders. We deeply appreciate the patience and the confidence our customers have shown as we worked through this process.”
CUPE had reached a mediated agreement with the country’s largest carrier on Aug. 19 following a strike that disrupted tens of thousands of passengers worldwide.
A week later, the union began the ratification vote on the new contract, which included a 12 per cent salary raise this year for most junior flight attendants and an eight per cent bump for more senior members, followed by smaller increases in subsequent years.
Larry Savage, a labour studies professor at Brock University, said the structure of the tentative agreement gave members little reason to ratify it.
“Once workers’ expectations are elevated — and especially when they’ve taken risks to secure a deal — they’re looking for significant gains,” Savage told the Star.
“While the agreement contains improvements, the union did not secure the same kinds of wage increases we saw for flight attendants at Air Transat or pilots at Air Canada. In relative terms, many flight attendants were looking for more than the deal they got.”
The Air Canada component of CUPE said approximately 95 per cent of its members voted.
“The larger issue of recognizing the vital safety role of flight attendants and compensating them for that work remains unresolved,” CUPE said its statement on Saturday.
“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,” the statement added.
“This is only the beginning.”
This is a developing story.
With files from The Canadian Press and Josh Rubin.
