DAYS SINCE WE BEGAN THE BARGAINING PROCESS. WE ARE UNITED AND WE WILL MAKE CHANGE.

CHQ-rouge-18-48 (Reduction in Health Benefits)

Lisa Raymond on June 26, 2024

In 2018, Air Canada made reductions to the benefit levels available to Rouge cabin personnel for:

  • chiropractors, massage therapists, naturopaths, osteopaths, and podiatrists;
  • orthopaedic shoes;
  • compression hose; and
  • custom orthotics.

The Union filed a grievance challenging these reductions on September 11, 2018.

The Union and Air Canada arbitrated the grievance before Arbitrator Eli Gedalof on February 26, 2024.

Arbitrator Gedalof issued a decision on June 25, 2024 allowing the grievance. He accepted the Union’s position that the Collective Agreement requires Air Canada to provide Rouge cabin personnel with at least the benefit levels put in place in 2013 following an interest arbitration award that awarded Air Canada’s proposal for those benefit levels.

You can download a complete copy of Arbitrator Gedalof’s award HERE.

The Union will work with Air Canada to implement the decision and ensure that benefit levels meet at least the required minimums.

The Union will provide a further update in the coming weeks.

In solidarity,

Air Canada flight attendants spend hours responding to bomb threat – unpaid!

Lisa Raymond on June 26, 2024

OTTAWA, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)– The union representing Air Canada flight attendants says a recent bomb threat on a flight – and the fact that the flight attendants weren’t paid for most of the time they spent responding to and managing the ensuing panic – shows just how out-of-hand the abuse of unpaid work is in the airline industry.

An Air Canada flight scheduled to leave Delhi for Toronto was grounded on June 4th after a bomb threat was called in. The crew remained with passengers throughout the ordeal, onboard the aircraft and in a holding area where they were relocated while authorities carried out their inspection.

However, despite being on the clock for over 9.5 hours in a high-alert situation, the crew was only paid for four, because of an outdated airline industry practice of not paying flight attendants for time spent on the ground performing safety-related duties, like pre-flight safety checks, as well as the boarding and deplaning process. CUPE has been highlighting this abusive practice with its Unpaid Work Won’t Fly campaign.

“The day-to-day exploitation of our flight attendants by our multibillion dollar industry is bad enough,” said Wesley Lesosky, President of the Air Canada Component of CUPE, which represents about 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge. “But an instance like this, where we are asked to respond to a bomb threat on board an aircraft without pay, is simply beyond the pale and it needs to stop now.”

The union has written to Air Canada requesting that the crew be paid in full for the hours they spent responding.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240626434729/en/