Hundreds of flight attendants from across Canada represented by CUPE descended on Parliament Hill on Tuesday to demand Employment Minister Patty Hajdu to act immediately to close loopholes in the Canada Labour Code that allow for the rampant abuse of unpaid work in Canada’s airline industry.

“Unpaid work is a systemic issue requiring a systemic solution,” said Wesley Lesosky, President of CUPE’s Airline Division representing 20,000 flight attendants at 11 airlines in Canada. “Flight attendants should not have to negotiate - or go on strike - for a right that every other Canadian already enjoys: to be paid for their time at work. This issue is not over, and the federal government must act without delay to end this abusive practice in our industry.”

The recent labour dispute at Air Canada centred around the airline’s abuse of unpaid work and put the issue into the spotlight. Industry-wide in Canada, flight attendants work on average 35 hours every month for free, performing vital safety-related duties including pre-flight safety checks, attending to onboard emergencies, assisting passengers with additional needs, boarding, deplaning, and delays.

“The federal government has been letting profitable airlines force flight attendants to work for free through loopholes in our labour laws for years, and that needs to stop now,” said Alia Hussain, President of CUPE 8125, which represents 5,000 flight attendants at WestJet and WestJet Encore. “There will be no labour peace in our industry until this exploitive practice is gone for good.”

“We will not rest until this unfair and outdated practice is put to rest,” said CUPE’s National President Mark Hancock. “Our members in the airline sector will continue to have the full support of our national union and our 750,000 members nationwide until this fight is won.”

Flight attendants were also joined by interim NDP leader Don Davies, who pledged that the NDP would introduce legislation at the first opportunity to ban unpaid work in Canada. “Nobody should be working for free in Canada in 2025 – especially when their job is to keep Canadians safe and secure at 30,000 feet,” said Davies. “Canada’s New Democrats will stand with airline workers every step of the way until this systemic, gendered injustice is overturned.”

Hajdu announced that her department will investigate unpaid work in the industry in August at the peak of the Air Canada strike. 

The contract between WestJet and CUPE 8125 expires December 31. CUPE will also be negotiating new contracts with Porter Airlines and Canadian North in the coming months.

CUPE represents 20,000 flight attendants at 11 different airlines nationwide.