Air Canada Welcomes Landmark Agreement with its Flight Attendants

Air Canada welcomes confirmation by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) representing approximately 6,500 flight attendants at Air Canada and 700 at Air Canada rouge, that its members have ratified an agreement on collective agreement terms for ten years.

“This ten-year landmark agreement with CUPE is a historic development which will help Air Canada achieve its global ambitions while acknowledging the important contribution of our flight attendants,” said Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines. “In addition, the agreement recognizes that our flight attendants play an integral role in delivering our award-winning customer service and enhancing our brand while ensuring the safety of our customers. With this agreement now in place we can focus on long term profitable growth for the benefit of all of our stakeholders.”

Added Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer, “I thank Michel Cournoyer and theCUPE Executive Committee for their leadership and the teams representing both CUPE and management for their hard work in reaching this agreement. In particular, I would like to thank Ben Smith whose leadership, energy and commitment has led to forging a new relationship with our flight attendants. This landmark agreement follows the milestone ten-year agreement reached with our pilots last October and is the fifth collective agreement reached with unions representing our employees over the past year. It is yet a further indication of the collaborative partnership that is building Air Canada into a Global Champion.”

The agreement is subject to certain openers over the ten year period. The agreement has been approved by the Air Canada Board of Directors.

This agreement with CUPE follows on the conclusion in October 2014 of a new agreement with Air Canada’s 3,000 pilots on collective agreement terms for ten years. It is the fifth collective agreement reached by Air Canada and its unions, including those with Unifor representing the airline’s 4,000 Customer Service and Sales Agents in Canada, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) representing its U.S. unionized workforce and UNITE representing its U.K unionized workforce.