Air Canada’s flight attendants are arguably underpaid compared to their American cousins, especially at the higher end.Sarah Espedido/The Globe and Mail
Wait, the strike is over? Already? Weren’t Air Canada and its flight attendants dug in for an epic confrontation, filled with back-to-work orders, law-breaking union leaders and so forth – labour vs. capital, red in tooth and claw? And now, suddenly, they have an agreement? What happened?
What happened is Air Canada blinked. The airline had been counting on the government to have its back in any negotiations. As, for a time, it did. The day the strike began – was it only last Saturday? – the government invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, referring the issue to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, which duly ordered the union to return to work, pending binding arbitration of the dispute.
The government probably reckoned on the backlash this would arouse among the broader labour movement. It didn’t reckon on public opinion rallying to the union’s side. That appears to have thoroughly spooked the government, which I suspect is why Air Canada caved.
What turned the issue for the union wasn’t the strike, or the back-to-work order, but two words: “unpaid work.” A great number of people who ought to know better were persuaded that Air Canada is engaged in a kind of high-altitude slavery. Others, who did know better, preferred to pretend they didn’t – I’m looking at you, Conservatives.
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Contrary to much credulous reporting, Air Canada’s flight attendants are not paid “less than the minimum wage.” Median compensation runs to about $54,000 a year in salary alone – considerably more, when various benefits, including heavily discounted travel, are included. New hires, it is true, make more like $20,000. But flight attendants only put in about 70-80 hours in the air a month. Not a week: a month.
This is where the unpaid work argument comes in. Yes, flight attendants are only “credited” for the 70-odd hours they spend serving passengers in-flight, but what about all the time they put in before and after: boarding, deplaning, dealing with delays and so on? The union claims this adds up to another 35 hours a month, on average. Unpaid work!
It sounds barbaric, if you don’t stop to think about it for more than a second. Most jobs include some element of unpaid work. Teachers prepare lessons ahead of class. Nurses stay late to finish charting or prepare medications. Why, even journalists put in hours off the clock, transcribing interviews or travelling for a story.
In all these, it’s understood that working late or early is part of the business. When you’re deciding whether to take a job, you look at the whole package – not only the formal hours, but the informal, and not only the salary, but the benefits.
That’s been the case for decades in the airline industry. It does not seem to have led to any shortage of applicants. Neither did the union see fit to make “unpaid work” part of any of its previous collective agreements.
Which isn’t to say Air Canada’s flight attendants should be contented with their lot. They’re arguably underpaid, compared to their American cousins, especially at the higher end. The union, you might say, has some explaining to do.
Air Canada's unionized flight attendants reached an agreement with the country's largest carrier on Tuesday, ending the first strike by its cabin crew in 40 years.
Reuters
So in this round it appeared determined to play catchup. Problem: demand to be paid up to 50 per cent more, you might look greedy or unreasonable. (The company had offered 38 per cent over four years.) But demand to be paid for unpaid work – so-called “ground pay” – and the world falls at your feet.
Of course, the unpaid work argument is unlikely to impress management. Unlike some people, they can do basic math: whether they’re paying $30 an hour for 70 hours – plus 35 hours unbilled – or $20 an hour for 105 hours, it’s all the same to them.
The company has a certain number of person-hours of labour it needs done, for which it is prepared to pay a certain amount in total compensation. The only thing that will change its mind is raw bargaining power.
Clearly management thought it had the power. With nearly 50 per cent of domestic flying capacity, Air Canada is not just “too big to fail,” but “too big to strike.” Too many people would be inconvenienced. The government would have to step in, just as it has in so many similar situations.
But management is not the intended audience of the unpaid work argument. The public, the media and the politicians are. And on them, it worked like a charm. In a heavily politicized industry like air travel, that, rather than simple market share, is what determines bargaining power. Live by the polls, die by the polls.