The Canadian Union of Public Employees has been certified to represent the flight attendants at PAL Airlines, which is headquartered in St. John’s, NL.
PAL is the third airline to be unionized by CUPE in 2019, after welcoming WestJet Encore in April and Swoop in May. Since July 2018, CUPE has welcomed thousands of previously non-unionized flight attendants into its ranks.
“We’re proud to welcome the dedicated flight attendants of Newfoundland and Labrador’s home airline,” said CUPE NL President Sherry Hillier. “They’ll join with over 15,000 other flight attendants across Canada and enjoy strong representation from Canada’s biggest union.”
Forty-four PAL flight attendants in total will join CUPE as a result of the certification. The next steps include electing a local union executive, establishing bylaws, and beginning contract talks with the airline.
“We’re excited to start setting up the new local union and to get to work negotiating a strong collective agreement for PAL flight attendants,” said Ed White, CUPE National Representative.
CUPE is Canada’s largest union, representing over 700,000 Canadian workers in the public and private sector in health, education, transportation, and other sectors.