{"id":62269,"date":"2025-08-11T20:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T20:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/62269\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T20:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T20:26:13","slug":"air-canada-flight-attendants-call-for-end-to-unpaid-work-in-day-of-action-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/62269\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Canada flight attendants call for end to unpaid work in \u2018day of action\u2019 – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 1,000 Air Canada<\/a> flight attendants\u00a0called for an end to \u201cpoverty wages\u201d and unpaid work during their national \u201cday of action<\/a>\u201d outside four major airports on Monday.<\/p>\n

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Dozens of flight attendants for both mainline Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge stood outside Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Montreal, Toronto Pearson International Airport, Vancouver International Airport and Calgary International Airport for about an hour starting at 1 p.m. Eastern.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)\u2019s Air Canada component told Global News in an email that 700 flight attendants gathered outside Toronto\u2019s airport, with 400 in Montreal, 350 in Vancouver and 100 in Calgary.<\/p>\n

In past weeks, CUPE has stressed its members have lost \u201csignificant purchasing power\u201d and that it\u2019s negotiating for higher wages and an \u201cend to the abuse of unpaid work.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The union said that before and after flights, flight attendants are required to perform \u201chours of unpaid mandatory\u201d duties, including safety checks, boarding, deplaning and assisting passengers with special needs.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAir Canada flight attendants vow \u2018day of action\u2019 to draw attention to labour dispute\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud to put on this uniform and help keep the public safe on their journey, but the days of us doing it for free or for poverty wages must end,\u201d said Wesley Lesosky, president of the Air Canada component of CUPE. \u201cWe\u2019re standing together for respect and a fair contract that matchs to the professionalism and dedication we bring to work every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Negotiations between Air Canada and CUPE resumed on Friday and were continuing as of Monday, but those renewed talks came with the threat of a strike looming after members voted 99.7 per cent in favour of a strike mandate.<\/p>\n

Julie Potvin, vice-president for CUPE Local 4091, told reporters outside Montreal\u2019s major airport that a work interruption is not \u201canybody\u2019s goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s anybody\u2019s goal, a work interruption would be an interruption for us flight attendants,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat we want is to be on board with our passengers, to continue to give them the service, this is what we work for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be recognize, we bring value to the operations, Air Canada makes millions of dollars and we believe that we need to be recognized. Working conditions need to be improved and we need to eliminate unpaid work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contract talks between the two groups have been ongoing since the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n

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The union filed for conciliation in May, with that process having ended last month when the union called on July 25 for a strike vote.<\/p>\n

A 21-day cooling off period began when the conciliation period ended, meaning while the strike vote could take place, actual job action could not.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAir Canada optimistic a deal can be reached ahead of strike action\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The cooling off period ends this Friday, setting the stage for a potential strike with the union saying a 72-hour strike notice could be given as soon as 12:01 a.m. on Saturday.<\/p>\n

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The airline has said it\u2019s \u201cdetermined to reach a fair and equitable collective agreement that recognizes the contributions of its flight attendants and supports the competitiveness and long-term growth of the company.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an email to Global News on Monday, it said it expects flights to operate normally amid the demonstrations.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemonstrations are a usual part of such negotiations,\u201d an airline spokesperson wrote. \u201cAir Canada remains at the table and is focused on achieving a deal with CUPE that recognizes the contributions of its Flight Attendants and supports the competitiveness and long-term growth of the company.\u201d<\/p>\n

The negotiations concern flight attendants working for Air Canada\u2019s main operations, as well as for Air Canada Rouge.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 1,000 Air Canada flight attendants\u00a0called for an end to \u201cpoverty wages\u201d and unpaid work during their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[23684,36802,45,49,48,1849],"class_list":{"0":"post-62269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-air-canada","9":"tag-air-canada-strike","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-consumer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}