In response to the Vice President, Labour Relations Michael Abbott’s bulletin dated December 15, 2025, “Note to Flight Attendants.” CUPE continues to uphold its commitment to full and factual communication with its membership.
Air Canada President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Rousseau stated on the Business News Network that the Company expected that the government would implement Section 107. Respectfully, Mr. Rousseau’s comments at a crucial juncture hold much more weight than anything mentioned in the recent communication from Mr. Abbott.
Our comments about Air Canada rejecting CUPE’s bargaining proposals outright was specific to wages/unpaid work, not the other items mentioned by Mr. Abbott. The discussion had at the House of Commons was specific to Unpaid Work and Labour Relations/Section 107.
What we clearly stated was:
“Through the spring and summer, we offered multiple proposals to Air Canada: paying all hours at full rate, internal wage adjustments, duty-day compensation, flat-rate top-ups. Air Canada rejected them all – often within minutes. Why? They saw no need to negotiate because they expected federal intervention to bail them out. Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau said so publicly.”
We would also like to highlight the fact that we had 60 days scheduled with the employer to meet in person or by zoom. Not all of those days included a meeting. We are therefore unsure of the reference to the 80 times that Mr. Abbott refers to.
If the employer feels you are such an “important part of our airline” we are confident that the parties would have been successful in reaching a fair deal which included fair wages and the right for YOU to vote on it, instead of how things ended with the employer securing section 107, removing that right to vote on a full package.
Bottom line, we didn’t get traction on many items until the membership took a stand. Most importantly we did not get close to what we considered to be a fair and comparable wage proposal from the other side of the table.
As always, we welcome any questions you may have. There is one refreshing change of note which has come via this bulletin from Mr. Abbott. We have asked repeatedly for Inflight Service Management to sign their bulletins and are pleased to see that this bulletin was signed. If you have feedback, you are then able to know where to direct it.