Air Canada flight attendants vote to reject airline’s wage offer – National

Air Canada flight attendants have voted overwhelmingly to reject their employer’s wage offer, their union says.

Several days of voting wrapped up at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, and when the votes were counted, 99.1 per cent of them had turned down the offer, according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

The union said 99.4 per cent of membership took part in the vote.

In a written statement, the airline says the wage portion will now be referred to mediation as previously agreed to by both sides.

The tentative agreement, which was voted down, included a 12 per cent salary increase this year for most junior flight attendants and an eight per cent bump for more senior members, followed by smaller raises in subsequent years.

The statement from Air Canada said that since both parties had also previously agreed that, if the wage offer was rejected, “no labour disruption could be initiated,” there will be no strike or lockout, and flights will continue to operate.

A three-day strike by the 10,000-plus flight attendants ended on Aug. 19 with the help of a federal mediator after it disrupted thousands of customers’ summer travel plans.

“It is impossible to ignore the corrosive role the federal government played in these negotiations,” the union said in a statement on Saturday.

“Rather than maintaining their neutrality, the federal government kept their thumb on the scale throughout the bargaining process and gave Air Canada the leverage they needed to suppress flight attendants’ wages.”

— with files from The Canadian Press.

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