August 20, 2025
CUPE 4600 stands in unwavering solidarity with the 10,000 Air Canada Flight Attendants across the country who are represented by CUPE. With a 99.7% strike vote, Air Canada Flight Attendants were united in their demands and their resolve.
We condemn the federal government’s unwarranted intervention that effectively stripped Flight Attendants of their right to strike. After less than twelve hours on strike, Minister of Jobs and Families, Patty Hajdu, ordered binding arbitration between Air Canada and CUPE effectively ordering Flight Attendants back to work. Such a decision rewarded an employer who had refused to bargain in good faith up to that point. Governments cannot empower employers to delay negotiations and walk away from the bargaining table through unwarranted interventions that curtail or undermine collective bargaining rights and legally-protected job action. CUPE Flight Attendants put forth reasonable, evidence-based proposals to address unpaid labour and low wages, while Air Canada counted on the government to undermine their unionized employees.
CUPE 4600 President Ryan Conrad notes:
Like Flight Attendants who are not paid for work performed before a plane departs and after a plane lands, Contract Instructors and Teaching Assistants are regularly required to perform unpaid work before and after their contracts. The abusive practice of employers extracting unpaid labour from their employees has no place in our modern economy regardless of sector.
We congratulate Air Canada Flight Attendants unionized with CUPE for reaching a tentative deal with their employer despite the unwarranted intervention by the Government of Canada.
CUPE 4600 Executive Council on Behalf of the Members of CUPE 4600