Will you work for any wages? The question behind the Canada flight strike

When Air Canada Airlines lecturers came out a week ago, they had one cry: “Unpaid work will not fly.”

It was a reference to the long -term practice in the aviation industry in North America not to pay the cabin crew for the work they are doing when they are on the ground, before the plane is in the movement.

In contrast, industry experts told some European Airlines, to the BBC, who conducted monthly wages for the cabin’s crew instead of the hour.

The wage structure surprised Canadian bulletins, Many of them supported the amazing workers, suggested one survey by the union.

The brief strike caused chaos during the summer travel season peak, but it resumed flights after the two sides agreed on a preliminary agreement on Tuesday.

The proposed agreement reached by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (COPE) and Air Canada completely, but those who realize its contents mention that it includes a stumbling block over several years, especially partial salaries for climbing to ascending to the cabin before take -off – the first.

Experts say that the victories obtained by the cabin crew at Air Canada can help consolidate a new standard for aviation workers on the continent.

The Federation described it as “historic” earlier this week, announcing the unpaid work.

But the media reported that many flight attendants, who still have to vote to agree to the deal, are still not satisfied. It is not clear whether the deal has enough support to pass it, according to Reuters.

Air Canada flight attendants were not alone in not paying for what the industry calls “ground work”.

The cabin staff of other Canadian Air Air Airways and Westjet does not have ground salaries as part of the compensation structure. The United States -based United Airlines does not notice, although contract negotiations are currently ongoing.

John Dick, business professor and expert at the McGill University in Montreal, said that providing the ground wage for Air Canada workers can soon sweep all the main airlines in North America.

He said that for decades, this practice was justified on the basis that it is easier to track hours when the plane leaves the gate and lands. It is difficult to include the time to ascend to climb, which can vary according to the delay and number of passengers.

To alleviate this, airlines shocked the salaries of every hour of the cabin crew, although many total wages are still low, especially for those who live in the cities of North America often expensive.

Air Canada said that half of the “main flight attendants” received more than 54,000 Canadian dollars ($ 39,000; 29,000 pounds) last year, with some of the senior employees who received more than 70,000 Canadian dollars.

The numbers were slightly different from Air Canada rouge, conveyor discount suite.

Leslie and Wolver, a Canadian flight flight attendant, told the local news outlet The Halifax Examiner that she had been able to do about 40 hours of unpaid work per month.

This number is similar to what was reported by nearly 10,000 of the flight attend CUPE survey in late December 2022. At that time, Wesley Lesuski, head of the federation department in the Federation, described the unpaid work as a “dirty secret in this industry.”

Mrs. Walfar told Halifax, because they tend to work on shorter trips, because they are more affected.

The parking lots towards the ground wages began to shift after the Covid-19s, which brought new bases about hiding aircraft and greatly changed how the cabin crew prepare a plane to take off.

“The increasing complexity of passengers ascending to climbing to the strait on the flight attendants” and forced them to work for more than unpaid hours.

“In the end, they said:” No. This must change. “

Delta Airlines led the charge in 2022 when it became the first in North America to advance the salaries of the cabin staff for the work they did on the ground. U.S. Airlines and Alaska airlines soon followed.

After reaching an initial agreement with Air Canada, Mark Nasr, the chief operational officer at the airline, told CBC The Carrier Cabin crew will now receive “pioneering compensation in the industry.”

“Ground wages are settled. Our flight attendants will be paid for time on the ground.”

But the future of the deal is still unclear.

Friday, Reuters spoke with many airlines workers Those who remained satisfied with the proposed deal, specifically citing the ground wages and how it affects wages for novice workers.

Mr. Lesuski told the port that the additional strikes would be illegal, and that wage disputes are likely to be resolved when arbitration will be resolved while the other parts of the agreement moved.

Regardless of the result, it is possible that a form of ground wages.

With Air Canada – the largest airline in Canada – it is now traveling on the plane, industry observers say a new precedent for the global aviation industry is appointed.

Both Air Transat and Westjet have next contract negotiations. Professor Award said he believed that the ground wage would be easy for them, because they want to keep their wages able to compete.

On a larger scale, the guaranteed gains were welcomed as a result of Air Canada’s strike as a starting point of work rights in Canada due to the Federation’s refusal to comply with the return to work.

The federal government has acquired Article 107 of the Labor Law in Canada, which was used in recent years to end job procedures and aborted binding arbitration.

This time, the general sympathy was largely alongside the amazing workers due to the focus on unpaid workers, Professor said.

“This was a major group of negotiation by the Union,” he said.