Last week, your Airline Division presidents met in Vancouver, BC to discuss strategic planning for the months ahead, including next steps on the fight to end unpaid work within the Aviation industry. We strongly believe we must be paid for all hours worked. We are worth 100%, not 0-50% for a limited period while at work on the ground boarding, deplaning, and dealing with unknown incidents! We should not be paid a “reduced” rate for mandatory training! We should not have to negotiate this change to reflect the current financial crisis.
As you know, during the Air Canada strike in August 2025, Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu announced the creation of a probe into unpaid work. Your union fully participated in this study in October 2025. The federal government promised to publish its findings before the end of December 2025. That did not happen.
We were recently advised that the results of the probe will be unveiled on February 19, 2026. Your Airline Division presidents, as well as key CUPE National staff assigned to support the airline sector, will be in attendance. Representatives from the major airlines and other employers in federally-regulated industries like telecoms, shipping, and transportation have also been invited.
Hundreds of members have reached out with questions about what comes next. We have requested additional information from the government; regrettably, nothing has been forthcoming to date.
We are hopeful that, after carefully considering your union’s reasoned and fair submissions, the probe will concur with what every flight attendant in Canada already knows: we are performing hundreds of hours of unpaid work every year – and it’s for that to stop. We deserve to have minimum standards met within our industry and our Transport Canada Mandated tasks we must adhere too on the ground deserve to be met with payment of wages.
However, we are also awake to the reality that the federal government may side with big airline CEOs to trample the rights of flight attendants – just as they did when they violated our Charter right to strike in August. We need to be prepared to respond.
Your Airline Division presidents acknowledge that we must move forward together on this issue. We want to hear from you as well – let us know how you think we should respond if the federal government, once again, turns a blind eye to exploitation and unfairness in our industry.
In solidarity,
Your Airline Division Council of Presidents