May 14th, 2025 | Alex Harris | Seaside FM News
The Air Canada Component of CUPE, the union representing 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, has filed for conciliation with the federal minister of labour, citing an impasse with the airline.
“We’ve made fair, reasonable, and long overdue proposals, but the company appears to be dragging their feet and not taking the process seriously,” said Wesley Lesosky, a flight attendant with 24 years experience and President of the Air Canada Component of CUPE.
The current contract has been in effect since 2015 and expired at the end of March.
The top issue the union is citing, has been fair compensation. A full time entry level flight attendant at Air Canada makes $1,951.30 per month. The union says that is not enough to live off of.
The union is also fighting against unpaid hours. According to the Unpaid Work Wont Fly campaign, flight attendants to work 35 hours per month, on average, without pay. Unpaid duties typically include boarding and deplaning aircraft, assisting passengers with mobility issues, and performing critical pre-flight safety checks.
Once a federal conciliation officer is appointed, they will have up to sixty days to work with the parties. At the end of the conciliation period, the parties enter a mandatory 21-day cooling off period. If no agreement is reached by the end of the 21 days, the union may give 72-hours notice of job action after a strike vote has been taken.
Air Canada has not released a statement on the union’s action.
