Air Canada flight crew at Pierre-Elliott Trudeau Airport in Montreal. Flight attendants will vote on a new contract over 10 days starting next Wednesday after a three-day strike grounded flights at the country's largest carrier.ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP/Getty Images
Air Canada’s AC-T 10,000 flight attendants will have 10 days beginning on Wednesday to vote on the tentative agreement reached after a three-day strike last weekend.
The cabin crews represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees returned to work on Tuesday evening, ending a strike that grounded about 700 flights a day at Canada’s largest airline.
They defied two federal orders to return to work before negotiators bargained through the night to reach a tentative agreement early on Tuesday morning.
The vote will be held from Aug. 27 to Sept. 6, and the results are expected to be released publicly within 24 hours.
If the contract does not receive majority approval, negotiators are expected to return to mediated talks for three days, followed by arbitration if needed.
As Air Canada resumes service, analysts see contained long-term financial damage
Members will vote only on the hourly pay portion of the four-year agreement, which provides pay raises of about 16 per cent to 20 per cent over the life of the contract, depending on seniority and job type.
Junior employees will get a 12-per-cent raise in the first year, while workers with more tenure will receive 8 per cent.
Starting pay is currently $30 an hour for Air Canada flight attendants. Cabin crews at discount wing Air Canada Rouge start at $26.42 an hour.
Members are not voting on the rest of the contract, under an agreement negotiators reached with the mediator. That package includes better pensions, vacation, sick leave, per diem allowances and compensation for work done before the plane moves, or ground pay.
Opinion: A big failure for Air Canada’s weak management. Are its days numbered?
Under the previous 10-year labour agreement, crews were not paid until the plane was in motion. This was a key issue for the union and was the final sticking point in negotiations.
For one hour prior to takeoff, flight attendants will receive 50 per cent of their hourly rate as ground pay. This rises to 70 per cent by the fourth year of the contract.
Union leaders are taking a neutral stance on the pay package and are neither endorsing it nor advising it be voted down. This is because they are happy with the components of the agreement that are not being voted on, and do not want to risk those gains in a vote.
No pay for pre- and postflight work is widespread in the airline industry, but unions have been pushing back.
Porter Airlines at the beginning of this year started paying its flight attendants for boarding time.
U.S. carrier Delta Airlines in 2022 became the first in North America to pay its cabin crews for ground work. American Airlines and Alaska Airlines have since followed.
Meanwhile, Air Canada’s bid to restore service gained pace on Thursday, with a steep drop in cancellations.
The airline said on its website that it planned to fly 95 per cent of its schedule for the next 24 hours, with its Canada and U.S. networks running at 98 and 99 per cent, respectively.
As of Thursday morning, Air Canada had 30 cancellations and planned 718 flights, according to Cirium, an aviation data company.
The airline also said it is expanding its reimbursement policy and in addition to refunding customers who booked alternative transportation because of cancelled flights between Aug. 15 and Aug. 23, it will now also cover “reasonable expenses for hotel stays, meals” and other related costs during that period.
It said claims must be supported with receipts, which can be submitted through Air Canada’s online customer relations portal.
The company says it may take four to six weeks to reimburse affected customers “due to the anticipated volume” of those submitting claims.
Air Canada had earlier advised customers they may be able to claim some of those other costs by contacting their travel insurance provider, saying on its website that the airline itself does “not cover hotel stays or meal expenses, or other non-transportation related expenses.”
With a report from The Canadian Press
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Porter Airlines flight attendants had won the right to receive full pay for boarding time in a contract negotiation between the company and the flight attendants’ union, Canadian Union of Public Employees. Porter did give its flight attendants this right at the beginning of this year, but the action did not involve CUPE, which has not yet negotiated a contract with Porter. This version has been corrected.