Air Canada Offers 32.5% Increase for Flight Attendants in Contract Talks

Air Canada aircraft at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. Air Canada, Canada's largest airline, says it's making plans to suspend flights beginning on Sept. 15 if a new contract is not reached with the union representing more than 5,000 pilots. Photographer: Graham Hughes/Bloomberg Photo by Graham Hughes /Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — Air Canada offered its flight attendants an overall increase of more than 30% over four years ahead of a potential strike, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

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The union representing the airline’s more than 10,000 flight attendants announced Tuesday that its members voted 99.7% to strike, putting them in a legal position to walk off the job as soon as Aug. 16. Airlines usually begin winding down operations and canceling flights days before a potential labor disruption. 

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Air Canada proposed to increase total compensation, including benefits and bonuses, by about 20% in the first year of a contract and a total of 32.5% over four years, said the person, speaking on condition they not be identified in order to speak about private talks.

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The airline also agreed to pay workers for some of the time they spend on the ground — a request made by the union. Currently, Air Canada flight attendants are only paid when the aircraft is in motion, a common practice in the industry, but one which is increasingly being challenged.

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“The company has never presented this offer to the union,” Nathalie Garceau, a spokesperson for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said by email. “If this indeed what the company plans to present when we resume negotiations on Friday, we look forward to discussing it then.” 

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Last month, United Airlines Holdings Inc.’s flight attendants rejected a contract providing cumulative pay increases of as much as 45.6% over five years — the agents would have been paid while passengers were boarding. Delta Air Lines Inc. became the first US airline to pay them during this period.

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Air Canada and the union failed to reach an agreement during a two-month conciliation process that ended in July. The latest 10-year contract expired at the end of March.

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In a document posted on its website, Air Canada says that half of its mainline flight attendants earned more than C$54,000 ($39,300) in 2024, excluding incentive rewards, pensions, and health benefits. Workers at Air Canada Rouge, the company’s budget brand, earn less.

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The union’s president, Wesley Lesosky, said in a statement Tuesday that Air Canada is “exploiting their own employees by severely underpaying flight attendants or refusing to pay them at all for safety-critical aspects of our jobs.” 

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A spokesperson for the airline said: “Out of respect for the negotiation process, we do not comment on what each party may or may not have offered at the negotiation table.”

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Last year, Air Canada’s pilots got a compensation increase of 42% over four years in a last-minute deal, averting a strike that would have grounded more than 1,000 daily flights worldwide. That agreement was reached after a wave of substantial pay increases for pilots across North America.

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The airline paid C$4.9 billion in wages, salaries and benefits last year, representing about 23% of operating costs. It posted an operating income of C$1.26 billion, or about 5.7% of revenue.

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—With assistance from Mary Schlangenstein.

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