A traveller walks past striking Air Canada flight attendants at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, B.C. on Aug. 16, 2025.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
Air Canada flight attendants who were on strike last month have voted against a deal to ratify a new collective agreement reached between their union and the air carrier – although this won’t result in another work stoppage.
The Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, or CUPE, said in a press release on Saturday that 99.1 per cent of employees had voted against the agreement, after a 10-day process that saw more than 10,000 members cast their vote. The turnout was 94.6 per cent.
The “no” vote means that Air Canada AC-T and CUPE will meet with a mediator to find ways to reach common ground on the issue of wages. If they do not, the matter will be referred to an arbitrator at the Canada Industrial Relations Board, who will decide on an appropriate wage increase for flight attendants – a decision that cannot be challenged by either side.
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“Air Canada never bargained in good faith on wages,” said Wesley Lesosky, president of the Air Canada component of CUPE, in a statement. “By CEO Michael Rousseau’s own admission, the company expected the federal government to intervene and take away the only leverage we had – our right to go on strike.”
Air Canada flight attendants went on a nationwide strike in mid-August over wages and the issue of unpaid work. They defied a back-to-work order issued by the federal government 12 hours after the stoppage began, resulting in a three-day strike and the grounding of domestic and international flights.
But it was a move that ultimately culminated in CUPE brokering a tentative deal with Air Canada that gave flight attendants, for the first time, compensation for the unpaid work they do before an aircraft departs and after it lands. For one hour prior to takeoff, flight attendants will receive 50 per cent of their hourly rate as ground pay. This rises to 70 per cent by the fourth year of the contract.
In defying the back-to-work order, CUPE took a calculated risk that paid off
The deal that CUPE struck with Air Canada was unique in the sense that it was binding for all aspects of the agreement, except wages. In other words, flight attendants were only voting on the issue of wages to get the full agreement ratified. They voted against Air Canada’s proposed wage increase of 20.25 per cent over four years for flight attendants with tenure of five years or less, and 16.25 per cent for those with tenure of six years or more.
“Even with the proposed increase, Air Canada flight attendants would still earn less than federal minimum wage,” said CUPE in their Saturday statement.
Under the airline’s proposed increases, the union estimates that a full-time Air Canada Rouge flight attendant would earn $2,219 per month, and a full-time Air Canada flight attendant would earn $2,522 per month. The federal minimum wage is $17.75 per hour, which translates into $2,840 per month on a 40-hour work week.
Flight attendants work an average of 80 hours per month, substantially less than a 40-hour work week, because many work long, back-to-back shifts, with days of rest in between.
Starting pay is currently $30 an hour for Air Canada flight attendants. Cabin crews for discount wing Air Canada Rouge start at $26.42 an hour. Flight attendants get regular increases every year as they move up through seniority on the pay grid, a common feature in unionized workplaces.
According to Air Canada, half of its flight attendants earned more than $54,000 in 2024, excluding health and pension benefits. When a flight attendant reaches 10 years of service, they can make more than $70,000 annually.
In a previous interview with The Globe, Mr. Lesosky said his union has had to open food banks in its Vancouver and Toronto offices to support their newest members who struggle to house and feed themselves. He also said that it is hard for flight attendants to have a second job because of work schedules that fluctuate monthly.