Air Canada flight attendants vote on a new contract this week. Here's what's next

More than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants will begin voting this week on a new contract between their union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and their employer, Air Canada.

Flight attendants went on strike on Aug. 16 after failing to reach an agreement with Air Canada on a new contract. The airline grounded hundreds of planes, stranding thousands of travellers. It started operating again on Aug. 19 after the union announced a tentative deal with the airline, although it said at the time that it would be a week to 10 days before full service returned.

Here’s what to know.

Terms of the new contract include a 12 per cent salary increase this year for most junior flight attendants, and an eight per cent raise for more senior members. In addition, all members will see a three per cent raise as of April 1, 2026, followed by 2.5 per cent in 2027 and 2.75 per cent in 2028.

Flight attendants and the union had made much of the fact that workers were only paid for the time the plane was in the air, despite having duties before takeoff and after landing that included safety checks and passenger assistance.

The new contract says flight attendants would receive 50 per cent their hourly wage rate for 60 minutes of ground time on narrow-body aircraft and 70 minutes on wide-body planes. That would rise to 60 per cent next April, 65 per cent in 2027, and 70 per cent in 2028.

A narrow-body aircraft is one with a single aisle, which usually means four to six seats in each row, while a wide-body aircraft has multiple aisles and more seats across.

Lack of pay for ground time has long been an industry standard, but that is changing. In 2022, Delta Air Lines began paying its flight attendants at half their hourly rate for 40 to 50 minutes of boarding, depending on the type of aircraft and where it’s headed, according to NPR .

Delta is the only major U.S. airline whose flight attendants are not unionized, and the broadcaster suggested the move might have been an effort by the airline to discourage unionizing. After Delta’s decision, American Airlines and its union also agreed to a similar plan.

Meanwhile, flight attendants at WestJet will see their current contract expire at the end of this year, and ground pay could be part of their bargaining considerations.

Voting beings on Wednesday, Aug. 27, and runs until Sept. 6. The union has said it will make results of the vote public within a day of that date.

Several news outlets including CP24 and Reuters have said they spoke to multiple flight attendants who plan to reject the deal, saying it’s not enough.

It’s unlikely. The flight attendants are voting on just the pay portion of the new agreement. Other changes, including modifications to health and pension benefits and vacation time, are considered final. So if attendants vote against the pay hikes, the other terms would still form part of the new collective agreement, with the wages portion proceeding to third-party arbitration.

The government of Canada ruled the brief strike by flight attendants this month illegal after they refused a back-to-work order before then reaching an agreement with Air Canada. Any new strike would also be deemed illegal, but they did ignore that the last time.

The tentative agreement expires on March 31, 2029.

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