The flight attendants’ union at Canadian airline Air Canada has notified the company of a three-day strike starting on Saturday, after the two sides failed to agree on pay rises for employees.
The strike was approved by 99.7% of union members, which includes more than 10,000 flight attendants.
“We came to the negotiations prepared, conducted them in good faith and made progress on some issues. But despite our efforts, Air Canada has refused to address our key issues,” the press release said on Thursday.
The carrier said the flight attendants were demanding “exorbitant increases.” The company offered to resort to external arbitration to resolve the labour dispute, but the union refused.
The company offered to increase total employee compensation, including benefits and bonuses, by 25% in the first year and 38% over four years. However, the union believes that the real increase in wages will be below the inflation rate.
Another key issue concerns the remuneration of flight attendants for work other than their duties directly on the flight. Currently, Air Canada flight attendants are only paid for time spent in the air, while other duties, including boarding passengers, are not remunerated. This is common practice in the industry, but has recently come under fire. The union is demanding 100% pay for all hours worked, but the airline is only willing to pay a portion.
Delta Air Lines became the first American airline to start paying flight attendants for their work during passenger boarding in 2022.
If the strike cannot be avoided, it could lead to the cancellation of around 700 flights per day and affect approximately 130,000 passengers. Air Canada Express regional flights operated by third-party carriers will not be affected.
