Below is an Open Letter from your ACCEX to newly appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada, Anko van der Werff.
Govern yourselves accordingly,
Your ACCEX
DELIVERED VIA EMAIL
July 21, 2026
OPEN LETTER TO ANKO VAN DER WERFF
Dear Mr. van der Werff,
On behalf of the more than 10,000 Flight Attendants represented by the Air Canada Component of CUPE, we would like to extend our sincere congratulations on your appointment as President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada.
Leadership transitions provide an opportunity for renewal, and we hope yours will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the relationship between Air Canada/Air Canada Rouge and the Flight Attendants, Service Directors and Leads who are the face of this airline every day.
Our members have always taken tremendous pride in representing Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge. Whether welcoming customers aboard, responding to emergencies, delivering exceptional service, or representing Canada around the world, we are among the company’s greatest ambassadors. Their professionalism and commitment have helped build Air Canada’s reputation over many decades.
Unfortunately, we must also be candid.
The relationship between Air Canada and our Union has deteriorated significantly over the past year. Decisions affecting our members are increasingly made without meaningful consultation, even when those decisions represent a departure from established practices or impact our Collective Agreement. As a result, we have been forced to rely on an increasing number of policy grievances simply to preserve negotiated rights and established processes.
This is not a healthy labour relations environment for either party.
Strong organizations are built on trust, transparency, and respectful dialogue. While disagreements are inevitable, they should be addressed through meaningful consultation rather than after decisions have already been implemented.
One recent example illustrates our concern.
Air Canada’s decision to reduce bilingual cabin crew coverage on certain overseas widebody flights was announced to the Union at the same time it was announced to employees. There was no advance discussion despite the obvious operational and workforce implications as well as recently negotiated language.
For several years, we have consistently encouraged the Company to make the recruitment of language-qualified Flight Attendants a strategic priority. We have also advocated for meaningful investment in language education for existing employees, allowing those who wish to acquire or strengthen additional language skills to do so through supported training initiatives and not just through “voluntary” means.
Canada’s linguistic diversity is one of our country’s defining characteristics. Meeting the travelling public’s expectations under the Official Languages framework should not depend upon temporary operational adjustments. It should be supported through long-term workforce planning, robust recruitment, and meaningful employee development.
Today’s staffing challenges are not the result of a sudden increase in demand. They reflect an opportunity that has existed for years to strengthen the bilingual and route language workforce through proactive planning and investment.
Many language-qualified crews continue to experience operational disruptions because there are simply not enough qualified employees available to meet the Company’s scheduling needs. This places an additional burden on those employees while reducing scheduling flexibility and creating unnecessary frustration.
We believe this situation can be improved—not through temporary measures—but through a collaborative strategy that values multilingual skills as a long-term operational strength.
Beyond this issue, there remain broader challenges that continue to affect the relationship between Air Canada and its Flight Attendants.
Our members continue to perform significant amounts of unpaid work before, during, and after every flight. This long-standing issue remains unresolved despite years of discussion. Flight Attendants are safety professionals whose responsibilities begin well before the aircraft door closes, yet much of this work continues to go uncompensated.
The events surrounding the 2025 round of collective bargaining also continue to weigh heavily on our membership. Government intervention brought negotiations to an abrupt conclusion before our members had the opportunity to fully exercise their collective bargaining rights. Many Flight Attendants were left feeling disappointed that important workplace issues—including fair compensation for all hours worked—remain unresolved.
These concerns exist against a broader economic backdrop. Canadians across the country are increasingly struggling with affordability, rising living costs, and economic uncertainty. Our members experience those same pressures while continuing to deliver exceptional service every day.
Despite these challenges, we want to remain optimistic.
We believe there is an opportunity to reset the relationship between Air Canada and the Union.
Our objective is not conflict for the sake of conflict. Our objective is to build a successful airline while ensuring that the employees who make that success possible are respected, consulted, and treated fairly.
Our members possess extraordinary knowledge of Air Canada’s operation. They understand our customers, identify operational challenges firsthand, and offer practical solutions every day. We believe that engaging employees and their Union as partners—not simply stakeholders to be informed after decisions are made—will produce better outcomes for everyone.
A healthy labour relationship is not always achieved through grievances and legal correspondence. It is built through communication, mutual respect, and a willingness to solve problems together.
As you begin your tenure as Chief Executive Officer, we hope you will view this letter in the spirit in which it is intended: an invitation.
An invitation to rebuild trust.
An invitation to establish a relationship founded on consultation rather than confrontation.
An invitation to recognize that protecting the rights of employees and building a stronger, more competitive Air Canada are not opposing objectives—they are complementary ones.
We look forward to meeting with you and your leadership team to discuss how we can move beyond the challenges of the past and work together to build an Air Canada that is stronger for its employees, stronger for its customers, and stronger for Canada.
We wish you every success in your new role and hope that your leadership marks the beginning of a renewed and constructive relationship between Air Canada and the Flight Attendants who proudly serve this airline every day.