Air Canada Flight Attendants Strike: What You Need to Know
Know about “2025 Air Canada’s flight attendants strike”
(Edited by: Universereal, 2025-Aug.-18, latest updated 2025-Aug.-21)
1, Air Canada’s news:
1.1, Last Saturday, Air Canada’s flight attendants went on strike, grounding most of the airline’s flights.
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/labour-groups-pushing-back-air-080024485.html
2, Strike reason:
An entry-level Air Canada flight attendant working full-time earns C$1,952 ($1,414.60) per month before taxes, which is 30% lower than that of a worker earning federal minimum wage, according to union data. The union has said Air Canada’s offer only accounts for 17.2% in higher wages over four years, leaving its younger, entry-level workers struggling against inflation. [https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news]
3, Financial influence:
3.1, Air Canada is suspending its guidance for third quarter and full-year 2025 operating results due to the effects of the labour disruption by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the resulting suspension of all flights. [https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news]
3.2, Air Canada shares closed down: 19.18, -0.59, (-2.98%) At close: 4:00:00 p.m. EDT, 2025-Aug.-18.
4, Government intervention:
4.1, After the strike began Saturday morning, federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, which gives the minister the unilateral power to order binding arbitration and end work stoppages in the name of securing “industrial peace.”
She directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board, or CIRB, to order the airline and its workers to resume their duties, which it promptly did.
in 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada determined that the right to strike is constitutionally protected, making such legislation more difficult. [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business]
4.2, A process of binding arbitration, which the CIRB did on Sunday. Subsequently, the CIRB issued a return-to-work order, directing both Air Canada and its flight attendants to resume operations.
On Monday, Canadian Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu urged both parties to return to the negotiating table and reach a collective agreement for workers as soon as possible.
5, Current[2025-Aug.-18] result:
5.1, costing the airline an estimated $60 million in daily revenue, according to National Bank analyst Cameron Doerksen. [https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news]
5.2, its flight attendants’ union to defy an order by the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
5.3, The Canadian Union of Public Employees has said the strike would continue until the carrier negotiates on wages and unpaid work.
5.4, The union’s move surprised investors and raised the stakes in a battle that has disrupted flights for hundreds of thousands of travelers during tourist season.
6, Final result:
6.1, On August 19, CUPE announced that they had reached a tentative agreement that would bring “transformational change” to the industry and ended the strike, following nine hours of overnight talks with a mediator appointed by the government. As details of the tentative agreement emerged, Air Canada’s concession on the issue of pay for groundwork was seen by analysts as part of a larger trend that would likely spread to other North American airlines. Hancock himself noted that “it’s not something that we’re going to let go of” and that CUPE would raise the issue of ground pay in upcoming negotiations with other airlines, such as WestJet.
6.2, Air Canada began to restart operations gradually on the evening of August 19. The airline would need 7 to 10 days to restore normal flight operations. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Air_Canada_flight_attendants_strike]
6.3, A new tentative deal between Air Canada and the airline’s flight attendants’ union proposes an increase in pay over four years, as well as an hourly rate paid when a plane is not in flight, also known as ground pay.
The new deal, which has yet to be ratified, offers a 12 per cent increase immediately, dated back to April 1, for flight attendants who have five years or less of service with Air Canada, while flight attendants who have more than five years of experience with the company would receive an eight per cent pay bump.
The second year would see a three per cent wage increase, the third year would see salaries increase by 2.5 per cent and the fourth year of the deal would increase pay by 2.75 per cent.
The four-year agreement also covers ground pay, with hourly wages determined based on whether an aircraft is a narrowbody or widebody plane.
For narrowbody aircraft, also known as single-aisle aircraft, flight attendants will receive ground pay for one hour at 50 per cent of their hourly wage rate, which will increase to 60 per cent in April of next year, 65 per cent in April 2027 and 70 per cent in April of the last year of the contract.
For widebody aircraft, flight attendants have been offered the same hourly rate as those for narrowbody aircraft but would be covered for 70 minutes of pay for work done while the plane is on the ground.
The limit on compensation increases to $88,000, up from the previous agreement’s $80,000 salary cap.
Members of the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) will likely vote to ratify the tentative agreement between Aug. 27 and Sept. 6
The union said it was able to strike a deal with Air Canada early Tuesday morning with the help of a federal mediator after more than 10,000 flight attendants walked off the job Saturday morning. [ https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/heres-what-air-canada-is-offering-to-pay-flight-attendants/]
August 18, 2025
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