Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge announced that a strike by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which includes flight attendants, began at 12:58 a.m. on August 16.
CUPE notified the company of the strike implementation on August 13, and the company had been gradually reducing its operational scale. During the strike period, approximately 130,000 people will be affected daily. Air Canada Express flights operated by partner airlines will operate as usual.
Passengers with reservations are being asked to refrain from heading to the airport if their flight’s operation is not confirmed.
Currently, flight attendants are not paid for the time during passenger boarding and deplaning, and block time is the standard. Furthermore, it is claimed that increases in prices and minimum wages in Canada since 2000 have not been reflected, with starting pay having only increased by 3 Canadian dollars per hour compared to 25 years ago, and the annual income of full-time workers earning minimum wage is 36,000 Canadian dollars, while flight attendants’ starting salary is 27,000 Canadian dollars. The labor agreement that had been in place for 10 years expired, and 99.7% of CUPE’s union members, including flight attendants, agreed to the strike.
