Air Canada’s flight attendants, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), are stepping up a public-facing campaign as contract negotiations with the airline enter a decisive phase. Central to the talks are issues surrounding unpaid work, stagnant wages, and scheduling practices that have long troubled members working under the same collective agreement for more than a decade. With the current agreement set to expire on March 31, negotiations have begun in earnest, and the union is highlighting unpaid work as a focal point of contention. The situation signals a broader pattern in the airline industry where labor costs, working conditions, and wage progression are under renewed scrutiny as carriers recover from disruptions and expand service in a competitive market.
Unpaid work: a core battleground in negotiations
A foundational issue driving CUPE’s mobilization is unpaid work—the time that flight attendants devote to duties surrounding a flight that is not compensated under the current pay structure. Under the present arrangement, flight attendants receive compensation strictly for time spent in the air, known as in-flight credit hours. Yet the responsibilities they perform before boarding and after deplaning are essential to safety, passenger experience, and operational efficiency. These duties include boarding passengers, assisting travelers with disabilities, conducting safety checks, and managing luggage and cabin readiness. Transportation Canada mandates many of these tasks, underscoring their importance to flight safety and service quality.
CUPE’s leadership, including Wesley Lesosky, the president of the Air Canada Component of CUPE, has spotlighted a substantial unpaid workload. The union argues that flight attendants are effectively providing approximately 35 hours of work each month without compensation for these mandated duties. This figure reflects a broad, ongoing expectation that personnel must undertake critical tasks beyond the paid air-time, a standard that, if accurate, represents a significant disparity between compensation and the full scope of responsibilities.
The rhetoric surrounding unpaid work emphasizes equity and fairness in compensation. The union argues that no other category of workers would be expected to show up for duty without pay for essential, legally mandated tasks. In asserting this point, CUPE frames unpaid work as not merely a nuisance or a bookkeeping issue but a fundamental fairness question about how professional flight attendants are valued within the aviation industry. To bring attention to the issue, CUPE has rolled out a public-awareness campaign that extends beyond the traditional press release cycle. The campaign includes television advertisements and an interactive, on-the-ground installation in Toronto that uses exaggerated depictions of unpaid duties and corporate policy. The aim is to catalyze public empathy and support for a reform that would ensure compensation aligns with the full range of duties performed by flight attendants, not just time spent in the air.
The emphasis on unpaid work is designed to resonate with travelers, policymakers, and the broader public by highlighting the daily realities of flight attendants’ work lives. The narrative is built around the premise that fair pay should reflect the comprehensive service flight attendants provide—from pre-flight preparation to post-flight wrap-up—and that the current model understates the value of these essential tasks. By framing the issue in terms of time actually worked and tasks that are legally mandated but unpaid, CUPE seeks to elevate the stakes of the negotiations and build a broader coalition in support of reform.
In these discussions, the union is mindful of maintaining a constructive tone while underscoring the need for meaningful change. The relationship between unpaid work and overall labor costs is a critical thread in any negotiation, but CUPE is positioning unpaid duties as a core constitutional question about labor rights and fair compensation. This framing is intended to shift the conversation from a narrow wage debate to a broader evaluation of how compensation should reflect the scope and intensity of modern flight attendant duties. The public campaign is deliberately designed to complement private negotiations by shaping public opinion and applying pressure on the airline to consider comprehensive compensation reforms that cover all mandated duties.
Wages, benefits, and the erosion of purchasing power
Beyond unpaid work, CUPE has called attention to stagnant wages and the erosion of purchasing power for Air Canada’s flight attendants over the past decade. The union contends that starting compensation is not keeping pace with the cost of living, inflation, and the scaled responsibilities of a modern, safety-critical role. Reported figures suggest a starting salary around $27,000 annually, coupled with a starting hourly rate near $30 per hour. When one considers that flight attendants are paid only for in-flight time, the combination of base pay and the lack of compensation for pre- and post-flight duties can create a financial gap that is particularly acute for junior crew members.
According to CUPE, the disparity deepens when unpaid duties are factored in. In practical terms, many flight attendants may find themselves working long shifts—potentially up to 14 hours in a day—yet earning compensation that, once unpaid tasks are accounted for, equates to roughly six to eight paid hours. This pattern has led to concerns about livable wages and financial stability for crew members who are integral to safe and efficient air service.
Inflation has further diminished real earnings, amplifying calls for a wage structure that reflects both market realities and the demands of premium service delivery. The union’s position is not limited to higher wages alone; it also calls for enhanced benefits and refined scheduling rules. While CUPE has stated that it intends to propose concrete wage and benefits enhancements during negotiations, the specifics have not been publicly disclosed, likely reflecting strategy designed to preserve negotiation flexibility and maintain leverage as talks progress. The overarching goal is to secure a compensation framework that adequately rewards all hours worked, including those that occur outside the cabin during pre-flight and post-flight activities, and to ensure that demographics across the workforce—particularly junior attendants—share proportionate gains in earnings and living standards.
From a strategic communications perspective, the emphasis on wages and benefits is closely tied to the broader issue of unpaid work. By linking compensation levels to the full spectrum of duties, CUPE aims to illustrate that fair pay encompasses a holistic valuation of daily workload, not merely time spent on board during flight. This approach helps articulate a clear narrative: if the industry expects flight attendants to perform essential duties as standard operating practice, those duties must be accounted for in pay. The union’s emphasis on wages also serves to underscore the connection between earnings and quality-of-life outcomes, including access to benefits, retirement security, and family-related considerations. In short, the wage dimension is not just a number; it is a driver of workforce stability, recruitment, and long-term service quality.
The union has signaled a willingness to pursue improvements in several fronts—wages, benefits, and scheduling rules—during the negotiation process. While the precise proposals remain confidential pending negotiation strategy and internal caucusing, the thrust is to create a more livable wage framework that accounts for both standard operating hours and the necessary non-flight duties that are mandated by safety and service standards. The combination of higher wages, improved benefits, and clearer, more predictable scheduling would collectively address concerns about cost-of-living pressures and working-life balance for flight attendants, while also strengthening Air Canada’s capacity to attract and retain skilled personnel in a competitive aviation market.
In the broader context of labor relations in the industry, the wage concerns raised by CUPE fit into a pattern of movements across North America. In Canada, airline workers have sought to align compensation with rising living costs and market dynamics. The intent behind these wage discussions is not to disrupt the airline’s economic health but to ensure a sustainable compensation framework that supports long-term workforce stability, service quality, and industry competitiveness. The negotiations are being held in a climate where labor disputes could have downstream effects on scheduling, service reliability, and passenger experience, further illustrating why a negotiated settlement that addresses both wages and the scope of paid duties is central to the overall health of Air Canada and its operations.
Industry context and policy reforms
The issues facing Air Canada flight attendants mirror broader industry patterns, including different compensation practices in neighboring markets and evolving legislative efforts aimed at standardizing pay for mandated duties. A notable contrast is the approach observed in some United States airlines, where pre-flight duties—such as passenger boarding and other ground services—have started to receive compensation in certain carriers. The discussion around pre-flight duties in the U.S. highlights a comparative gap with Canadian practices, raising questions about whether Air Canada and Canadian airlines should align with a more uniform standard that compensates flight attendants for all mandated tasks, not only in-flight service time.
CUPE’s leadership has connected these industry dynamics to legislative efforts at the federal level in Canada. The union backs Bill C-415, a proposed federal law introduced in October 2024 by New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament Bonita Zarrillo. The bill seeks to standardize pay practices for flight attendants across Canada, ensuring that workers are paid for all duties mandated by safety and operational requirements, including those performed before and after flights. Lesosky has indicated collaboration with the NDP on the bill, viewing the legislation as a meaningful step toward addressing nationwide unpaid-work issues within the airline sector. The proposal aligns with a broader call for fairness and consistency in compensation across the industry, advocating for a baseline standard that would apply to all flight attendants regardless of the airline or geography.
In the industry context, CUPE’s support for Bill C-415 reflects a strategic effort to couple workplace negotiations with broader policy change. The goal is to create a regulatory framework that reduces ambiguity around compensation for non-flight duties and provides a uniform baseline that could be extended to other employers in the sector. The legislative push is presented as complementary to the ongoing negotiations with Air Canada: while the union seeks immediate, company-level gains through the collective bargaining process, it also seeks to advance a nationwide standard that could anchor future agreements across Canada’s airline ecosystem. This dual approach—negotiated settlements at the enterprise level combined with legislative reform at the national level—represents a comprehensive strategy to achieve sustainable improvements in pay, benefits, and working conditions for flight attendants.
Support for policy reform such as Bill C-415 is consistent with the union’s broader objective of elevating the status and protections of flight attendants in Canada. Proponents argue that standardized compensation would promote fairness, reduce inequities, and support a more stable labor environment in which safety and customer service quality can flourish. Critics may raise concerns about potential impacts on airline profitability or pricing, but supporters contend that fair pay for all mandated duties is fundamental to maintaining a skilled, motivated workforce capable of delivering high-level service in a competitive industry. The public policy component of the CUPE strategy signals an intent to influence not only the current round of negotiations but also the policy framework that shapes labor relations in Canada’s aviation sector for years to come.
The interplay between industry practices and policy movements is central to understanding the stakes in Air Canada’s contract talks. As airlines adapt to post-pandemic travel demand, labor costs remain a critical lever for profitability and service quality. The union’s push for pay reforms and standardized compensation is positioned within a broader debate about how best to balance cost containment with fair labor practices. If Bill C-415 progresses, it could provide a legislative counterweight to corporate policies and help level the playing field for flight attendants across Canada. The outcome of the proposed bill, along with the results of the Air Canada negotiations, could set important precedents that influence compensation structures not only within Air Canada but across the Canadian airline industry, including regional carriers and other national operators.
Negotiations timeline, strategy, and potential labour action
Negotiations between Air Canada and CUPE began on December 11, marking a formal phase in a process that will determine the terms of the new collective agreement. The parties are negotiating against the backdrop of a looming March 31 expiry date, which adds urgency to their discussions. CUPE has framed its objective as achieving a deal that satisfies its members while avoiding disruption to passengers and the airline’s operations. The union’s leadership has asserted a principled stance: enough is enough, and flight attendants deserve fair pay commensurate with the critical work they perform—both in the cabin and in the broader pre- and post-flight processes.
A core element of the negotiation narrative is the unpaid-work issue. By insisting that compensation should cover all mandated duties, CUPE is pressing Air Canada to rethink how it calculates and dispenses pay for flight attendants. The union’s approach aims to shift the conversation from a narrow focus on per-hour air-time to a comprehensive compensation framework that includes ground-based duties and other mandatory activities. This approach seeks to align the airline’s cost structure with the full scope of crew responsibilities, thereby reducing incentives for employees to seek additional, unregulated work outside their Air Canada duties and increasing the likelihood of stable, long-term retention.
Public messaging around the negotiations emphasizes a straightforward goal: reach an agreement that rewards flight attendants fairly for the essential work they perform. The union’s leadership has underscored that their priority is to secure compensation that reflects the full spectrum of duties, including those performed before boarding and after deplaning. In this framing, the negotiations are not simply about larger wages but about a fair recognition of the workload that sustains safety, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. The tone suggests a readiness to push for a settlement that reduces the risk of strikes or work stoppages, while also signalling that the union will not compromise on core fairness principles.
The possibility of a labour action, such as a strike or work stoppage, remains a potential lever in the bargaining process. Historically, such actions can be used to demonstrate resolve and to apply pressure during stalemates. In this instance, CUPE’s communications emphasize a preference for a negotiated resolution that avoids passenger disruption, even as the union makes clear that it will take necessary steps to safeguard member interests if talks falter. The balance between safeguarding passengers and applying pressure to secure favorable terms for flight attendants is a delicate dynamic that negotiators must manage carefully. Air Canada, for its part, must weigh the operational and reputational risks associated with potential disruptions against the costs and benefits of meeting the union’s demands.
As negotiations unfold, the strategic calculus for Air Canada centers on preserving service reliability, protecting customer experience, and maintaining financial discipline. The airline’s leadership will likely scrutinize the costs associated with enhanced pay, benefits, and scheduling reforms while also considering potential productivity gains, shifts in labor dynamics, and the broader implications for the company’s competitive positioning. The outcome will influence not only the current cohort of flight attendants but also the broader workforce planning, hiring strategies, and workforce engagement practices across the airline.
The negotiations’ timing, with a March expiry looming, creates a window in which both sides must articulate clear proposals, acceptable trade-offs, and a shared path toward a sustainable agreement. The process will test the ability of Air Canada and CUPE to translate their respective mandates into concrete concessions and commitments that satisfy the critical needs of flight attendants while maintaining the airline’s operational integrity. The emphasis on preventing disruption suggests a preference for a constructive, outcome-focused dialogue, even as the union remains steadfast in defending the core principles of fair compensation for all hours worked and all mandated duties.
Public campaigns, external support, and stakeholder engagement
In tandem with negotiations, CUPE has launched a broad public-engagement campaign designed to draw attention to unpaid work and to build support for more equitable compensation structures. The public-facing elements—television advertisements and in-person installations in major urban centers—are crafted to illustrate, in a dramatized yet meaningful way, the daily realities faced by flight attendants when mandated duties go uncompensated. Through striking visuals and narratives, these efforts aim to foster public empathy and to encourage travelers to view compensation fairness as a factor that affects service quality and passenger experience.
Beyond the advertising campaign, CUPE’s strategy includes engaging with lawmakers, policymakers, and the broader public to emphasize a standard of pay that recognizes all aspects of flight attendants’ duties. The proposed federal framework embodied in Bill C-415 serves as a focal point for this engagement, linking industry negotiations with policy reform. By highlighting the argument that flight attendants should be paid for all mandated duties, including pre- and post-flight tasks, CUPE seeks to mobilize broad-based support that could influence legislative outcomes and, in parallel, shift employer expectations across the sector.
The public campaign also serves as a communications bridge between union leadership and its members. It offers a platform to articulate the rationale behind wage demands, the importance of fair compensation for the full scope of duties, and the rationale for factory-floor-like terms such as scheduling improvements. These communications are designed to complement the internal negotiations by maintaining momentum, clarifying positions, and ensuring that member perspectives are consistently represented in the public discourse surrounding the bargaining process.
Stakeholder engagement in this context extends to interactions with other industry actors, including airline executives, labor advocates, passenger associations, and the media. The aim is to frame the conversation around fair labor practices and to articulate how improved compensation could support service quality, employee retention, and overall industry resilience. While discussions with policymakers about Bill C-415 are ongoing, the public-facing elements of CUPE’s campaign are intended to keep this issue at the forefront of public attention and policy debate.
In addition to educational and advocacy components, CUPE’s campaign strategy includes practical measures designed to sustain public interest over the negotiation horizon. These may involve periodic updates to the public, transparent sharing of how wage proposals would translate into real-world compensation, and ongoing explanations of how unpaid duties would be fully accounted for under a revised pay model. The overarching objective is to cultivate a broad coalition that recognizes the importance of fair pay for flight attendants and to ensure that the airline industry continues to attract, train, and retain a professional, dedicated workforce capable of delivering high standards of safety and service.
Looking ahead: implications for Air Canada and the Canadian airline industry
The potential outcomes of the Air Canada-CUPE negotiations carry implications that extend beyond the immediate parties. A successful settlement that meaningfully addresses unpaid work, improves wages, and clarifies scheduling could set a constructive precedent for other airlines operating in Canada. If the industry-wide standard evolves toward compensating all mandated duties, Air Canada may be positioned as a leader in fair labor practices within the Canadian aviation market, potentially influencing labor relations approaches at peer carriers and regional operators. Conversely, if negotiations face a protracted stalemate or result in concessions that fall short of union expectations, Air Canada could experience greater labor unrest, which could, in turn, affect scheduling reliability, customer experience, and brand perception.
From a policy perspective, the progress of Bill C-415—if advanced or enacted—could reshape compensation norms across Canada’s aviation sector. A standardized framework for pay that includes all mandated duties would not only complement enterprise-level agreements but also provide a legislative baseline that supports consistent treatment of flight attendants employed by different airlines. The prospect of national-level reforms introduces a longer-term dimension to Air Canada’s negotiating strategy, as airline operators would need to align internal practices with evolving regulatory standards. This alignment could influence workforce planning, staffing models, and wage growth trajectories across the industry, potentially leveling disparities that have persisted across different operators and regions.
The broader economic and labor market implications are also relevant. A move toward comprehensive compensation for all mandated duties could contribute to improved labor relations stability within aviation, encouraging skilled workers to remain with their employers rather than seeking opportunities in sectors with more favorable labor terms. This stability could have downstream effects on service reliability, staff training quality, and passenger satisfaction, which are critical components of a carrier’s competitive position in a heavily regulated, safety-conscious industry.
For Air Canada, a robust settlement would mean predictable labor costs, improved crew morale, and potentially better scheduling predictability. It could also attract new talent by offering more compelling compensation packages that recognize the full scope of a flight attendant’s responsibilities. The airline would still need to balance labor costs with other strategic priorities, including fleet utilization, network expansion, and profitability benchmarks. The negotiations, therefore, sit at the intersection of workforce equity and corporate strategy, with outcomes that could shape the airline’s operating model for years to come.
As negotiations unfold and public discourse continues, observers will watch how Air Canada translates the union’s core demands into a comprehensive compensation framework. The balance between employee welfare and business viability will be tested, and the industry will likely watch closely to gauge whether a collaborative, policy-informed approach to compensation can deliver lasting improvements for flight attendants while sustaining the airline’s capacity to deliver reliable, high-quality service to travelers.
Conclusion
Air Canada’s contract negotiations with CUPE center on three interwoven themes: unpaid work, wage growth, and scheduling reforms that reflect the full scope of flight attendants’ duties. The union argues that compensation should account for all mandated tasks performed before and after flights, not solely for in-flight time, a stance supported by concerns about fairness, safety, and workforce stability. The wage debate highlights stagnation in salaries and the erosion of purchasing power, with implications for junior attendants and overall morale. Scheduling reforms are presented as a means to deliver more predictable, equitable work arrangements that support both employee well-being and operational efficiency.
The broader industry context underscores that these issues are not isolated to Air Canada. They touch on international labor practices, regulatory developments, and national policy discussions, including the proposed Bill C-415, which seeks to standardize pay practices across Canada’s flight attendants. The debate has both immediate and long-term dimensions: in the short term, negotiations aim to avert disruption while addressing core fairness concerns; in the longer term, policy reforms could reshape compensation standards across the Canadian airline sector.
Ultimately, the trajectory of these talks will influence Air Canada’s ability to recruit, retain, and engage a highly skilled flight-attendant workforce capable of delivering consistent safety and service excellence. Whether through a negotiated settlement that delivers fair compensation for all hours worked and all mandated duties, or through policy-driven changes at the national level, the outcome will have a lasting impact on the industry’s labor relations landscape and the experience of travelers who rely on Air Canada for safe, reliable air travel.