Air Canada flight attendants have overwhelmingly approved a strike vote that clears the way for potential summer chaos.
The Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees today (05AUG) announced that members approved a strike in voting that ended at 2 p.m. EDT. The results of the vote are 99.7% votes for YES and 0.3% for NO. The percentage of the membership who voted was 94.6%.
The union told Open Jaw that talks with Air Canada management will be ongoing in the next few days but that a 72-hour strike notice could be issued 13AUG, 2025 at 12:01 am, which would be in the middle of the busy summer travel season.
"The vote reflects the deep frustration of flight attendants after months of negotiations without result, due to the airline's refusal to fairly negotiate on key issues like unpaid work, work rules, and poverty-level wages," the union said in a press release issued just after 5 p.m. EDT on 05AUG.
"The company would rather drag their feet than negotiate on the things that matter to our members," said Wesley Lesosky, President of the Air Canada Component of CUPE. “Now, flight attendants have had a chance to weigh in and tell the company it’s time to get
serious about negotiating.”
A strike vote is a necessary precursor for legal job action but does not necessarily mean that Air Canada flight attendants will be going on strike, the union said.
“A strike is always the last option, and our goal is still to reach a new contract at the bargaining table,” a union spokesperson said recently.
Lesosky said that, since 2000, inflation has increased 169% and average full-time wages have increased 210% in Canada. But entry-level Air Canada flight attendants' wages have increased only 10% - just $3 per hour – in the past 25 years.
The union, which represents more than 10,000 flight attendants, also says it’s looking for an end to unpaid work.
Since the current contract was agreed to in 2015, the union says its members have lost “significant purchasing power” and that it is negotiating for higher wages and an “end to the abuse of unpaid work.”
The union said that before, during and after their flights, flight attendants are required to perform “hours of unpaid mandatory” duties, including safety checks, boarding, deplaning and assisting passengers with special needs, Global News reports.
Air Canada and CUPE have been in contract talks since the beginning of the year. A federal mediator was appointed to help, but no deal was reached.
Air Canada officials on 25JUL said it “remains fully available to continue negotiations towards a fair and equitable collective agreement with CUPE that recognizes the contributions of its flight attendants and supports the competitiveness and long-term growth of the company.”
Air Canada’s pilots nearly went on strike last year following a tough round of negotiations between the Air Line Pilots Association and the airline. A strike was averted at the last second, and a new collective agreement was ratified by pilots last October.
Pilots received a 42% pay hike over four years in last year’s deal, but that agreement came at a time when the Canadian airline industry was riding fairly high. With the Trump tariffs strongly impacting Canadian travel to the US, Air Canada recently announced its profits dropped significantly in the second quarter of this year, falling from $410 million in QW of 2024 to $186 million in Q2 of this year.
