Flight attendants at Air Canada have rejected the tentative agreement reached with Air Canada on Sept. 20, 2011. Of members who voted, 65.2 per cent voted to reject the deal.
The union representing Air Canada flight attendants (CUPE) has served notice of their intention to strike. Flight attendants will be in a legal strike position starting at 00:01 a.m. on October 13, 2011.
In accordance with the letter from the federal mediators, the union had to give strike notice within 24 hours of the tentative agreement being rejected. This notice has been served this evening. The union, then, is in a legal strike position 72 hours after notice being given, which brings us to the October 13 deadline.
The President of the Air Canada Component of CUPE, Jeff Taylor, says these results show how frustrated the membership is with the company, after years and years of concessions.
“We ask the federal government, in the strongest possible terms, to respect our right to collective bargaining and not intervene unilaterally in this dispute”, says Taylor.
This is the second time the members of the Air Canada Component of CUPE reject a tentative agreement with the company.
The Air Canada flight attendants are emergency specialists whose primary role is to ensure the safety of over 100,000 passengers who travel each day in Canada and around the world.
In total, CUPE represents nearly 9,500 members in air transport, including Air Transat, Calm Air, Air Canada, Canadian North, CanJet Airlines, Cathay Pacific, First Air and Porter.
CUPE is the largest union in Canada with over 610,000 members working in health care, education, municipalities, libraries, universities, social services, public services, urban and air transport, emergency services and communications.
The union will not be commenting further at this time.
For more information:
Pierre Ducasse
CUPE Media Relations
pducasse@cupe.ca