Amid labour shortages and contract negotiations throughout the air sector, a rough road to air travel recovery and surging demand for travel, CUPE's Airline Divison marked International Flight Attendant Day, 2023 on 31MAY. The division's president, Wesley Lesosky, released this statement:
It has been an incredible year for our union and for our movement. We have truly emerged from the pandemic, which devastated our jobs and disrupted our lives beyond measure. We are back - and we are stronger than ever.
There is no question: our members are energized, motivated, and determined in our fight for respect and fair pay for hours worked.
With our Unpaid Work Won’t Fly campaign, we have put the airline industry and the federal government on notice: airline workers aren’t going to accept working 35 hours every month, on average, for free anymore. Together, we’re going to put a stop to this unfair and unjust industry practice.
With 18,500 members nationwide, our movement continues to grow, so we can raise work standards for everyone in our industry from coast to coast, in airlines large and small.
We were also relieved to welcome Alexander Rozov and Christina Carello, two of our members at Pivot Airlines, back to Canada after they were unjustly detained without charge in the Dominican Republic for seven long months. We want to thank all of our members who supported their safe return through our petition and our GoFundMe campaign.
For the year ahead and beyond, we wish all of our members and every worker in our industry continued strength, safety, solidarity, and a happy International Flight Attendant Day!
