Air Canada is facing turbulence of a different kind. Flight attendants at both Air Canada and its low-cost carrier, Air Canada Rouge, have overwhelmingly rejected the company’s latest wage proposal. In a striking show of unity, 99.1% of flight attendants voted against the deal, with voter turnout reaching 99.4%.
At the core of the dispute is pay. Even with the proposed increases, many full-time flight attendants would still earn less than Canada’s federal minimum wage of $17.75 per hour, or $2,840 a month based on a 40-hour workweek. By comparison, Rouge flight attendants earn about $2,219 per month, while mainline attendants earn roughly $2,522—wages that leave some employees qualifying for income supports despite working for Canada’s flagship airline.
What Air Canada offered
The company’s four-year proposal included:
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A 12% raise in year one for Rouge attendants and mainline attendants with five years’ service or less.
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An 8% raise for mainline attendants with six or more years’ service.
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Annual increases of 3%, 2.5%, and 2.75% in the following three years.
While those numbers may look decent in isolation, the union argues they fail to address the fundamental issue: wages that lag not only behind industry peers but below the legal baseline for minimum wage.
Union backlash and federal role
The Air Canada Component of CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees), representing more than 10,000 flight attendants, says the federal government undermined the union’s bargaining power.
“Air Canada never bargained in good faith on wages,” said Wesley Lesosky, President of CUPE’s Air Canada Component. “By CEO Michael Rousseau’s own admission, the company expected the federal government to intervene and take away the only leverage we had—our right to go on strike. Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu only waited 11 hours to prove the company right.”
The accusation points to Ottawa’s decision to limit the possibility of a strike, a move unions say tilted the table in Air Canada’s favor.
What’s next
The wage dispute now moves into mediation, with arbitration looming if no deal can be reached. While the union secured partial pay for some ground duties—a first step in addressing long-criticized unpaid work—the broader question of recognizing and compensating the safety-critical role of flight attendants remains unresolved.
For Air Canada, this is more than just a wage negotiation. It’s a reputational test of how the country’s largest airline values its frontline staff—employees who are simultaneously the face of customer service and the first line of defense in emergencies. For Canada’s labor market, the outcome could signal how much leverage unions really have in the face of government intervention.
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Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure. Public relations, investor relations, public policy and marketing professionals rely on Business Wire for secure and accurate distribution of market-moving news and multimedia. Founded in 1961, Business Wire is a trusted source for news organizations, journalists, investment professionals and regulatory authorities, delivering news directly into editorial systems and leading online news sources via its multi-patented NX network. Business Wire’s global newsrooms are available to meet the needs of communications professionals and news media worldwide.
