“Our complaint states that Air Canada, through its policies, procedures and practices, fosters harassment and discrimination in the workplace, and this must stop now”, said CUPE’s Air Canada Component Vice-President Beth Mahan.
The complaint alleges that Air Canada’s policies on uniforms and makeup, including ‘modelling’ of uniforms, are clearly discriminatory towards female flight attendants on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and race.
According to the complaint, the new onboard service managers (OBSMs) also contribute to the toxic environment in many ways:
- The OBSMs
- Many OBSMs have also made sexist, racist and homophobic remarks to and about service directors and flight attendants
- Many OBSM evaluations have resulted in service directors being demoted.
The complaint also asserts that Air Canada has tolerated discriminatory and harassing behaviour by managers on the ground. CUPE’s Air Canada Component decided to file a Human Rights complaint after reports of inappropriate behaviour were not dealt with appropriately by the company.
“We now turn to the Canadian Human Rights Commission since Air Canada has repeatedly failed to deal adequately with harassment and discrimination complaints by our members”, concluded Mahan.
CUPE’s Air Canada Component is asking the Canadian Human Rights Commission to order an overall review of Air Canada’s policies, procedures and practices in relation to harassment, and to eliminate the problematic OBSM program.
CUPE represents 8,500 flight attendants at Air Canada mainline and Rouge.
For more information:
Philippe Gagnon
Media relations, CUPE
(613) 894-0146
pgagnon@cupe.ca