As passengers and travel advisors breathe a sigh of relief at the end of the Air Canada flight attendant’s strike, rumblings on social media, and emails and calls to Open Jaw show general dissatisfaction among flight attendants with the agreement brokered by CUPE.
Details of the tentative agreement are leaking out and some say this deal may not be ratified in this week’s vote.
Sources say the deal gives Air Canada flight attendants one extra hour of pay on the narrowbody or 1:15 on a widebody for each flight, but all at half pay (50%). That percentage increases five per cent each year.
CBC News reports the airline is also proposing immediate pay increases of 12% for flight attendants with under five years of service with Air Canada, and 8% for those who have worked at the airline longer than that. Salaries would increase three per cent in the second year, 2.5% in the third year and 2.75% in the fourth year.
Sources tell Open Jaw the negotiated settlement on ground pay is locked and cannot be changed. Pay increases and benefits are what the flight attendants will vote on this week. If they turn the deal down, it goes to “interest” arbitration, where the arbitrator will make a final binding decision. Flight attendants are not entitled to continue striking or refuse back to work orders.
With ground pay being the issue at the forefront of the flight attendants fight, and the one which gained the most public empathy, some flight attendants are saying they’ve been let down by their union in the final agreement with Air Canada on this key point.
A social media post from an unnamed flight attendant reads, “I beseech you, on the part of all of us to refrain from advertising that “unpaid work is over”! IT MOST CERTAINLY IS NOT!!!! If it was, we’d be paid at our FULL salary for ALL ground duties, including delays, briefings, checks etc. That is NOT. The case and this campaign to frame it as such has the potential to cause irreparable damage to In-Flight crew."
Gustavo, a flight attendant who reached out to Open Jaw, says he's sceptical the vote will pass.
“I’m pretty sure the vote will be an absolute no and it will go to an arbitrator,” he says.
“Yesterday morning when we woke up like all Canadians to see the strike was over and they have a tentative agreement... it was victorious news for everyone. It gave that illusion. We were all very happy,” he says. “When I heard the details, I felt gutted. Unpaid work is not over."
On a flight attendant facebook page, Cori Bradley expresses her frustration.
“This is a terrible offer. The union has just cut flight attendants off at the knees and lost all the momentum gained from the strikes. The deal is essentially the original offer—plus the requirement to return to work. The strike should have remained in place until a genuine offer was presented. Instead of selling out your members to protect yourselves, take some of those union dues collected from these hardworking men and women and invest in a negotiations course. You clearly need it.”
“The most disappointing part was going to work and feeling like our protest was making a difference and our voices were being heard…that’s the hard part,” Gustavo says.
"I think Air Canada needs to do better. Everyone I’ve talked to feels disrespected."
