Upcoming Air Canada Flight Attendant Strike

[ellbell]

Umm...I was just telling folks flying this week to keep an eye out…

Sorry I quoted the wrong post

 

[ellbell]

'Unskilled labor' classist nonsense that is.

Flight attendants go through weeks to months of training, need to be certified for aircraft type (just like pilots), have to be able to regularly show they can evacuate a plane in under 90s using only half of the exits, all while being the most in view face of an airline.

Right!!! Not to mention the abuse they take from passengers. WHILE NOT BEING PAID most of the time because the plane hasn't started moving.

 

[EACarlson]

The average hourly wage is 28.64. But they don't get paid for all the hours they work. Flight attendants that have been there less than 10 years make well below the average. So yea some of them are actually making less than minimum wage

This is blatantly false. The starting pay as of 4/1/24, the last step date listed in the previous contract was $30.02. At five years of service the hourly wage is $52.50 per hour. At ten years, it's $63.07. How can an average of all employees be less than the starting wage.

'Unskilled labor' classist nonsense that is.

Flight attendants go through weeks to months of training, need to be certified for aircraft type (just like pilots), have to be able to regularly show they can evacuate a plane in under 90s using only half of the exits, all while being the most in view face of an airline.

It is a relatively unskilled job. It's seven weeks of training or 280 hours to become an FA for AC. To get a Transport Canada Airline Pilot license, an applicant must have 1500 hours of flight time after completing the requirements to get a pilots license in the first place. I think most able bodied people would be able to handle the demands of being an FA, I know very few people that could handle the demands of being a Commercial Airline Pilot.
Most of them absolutely work hard and deserve a fair wage. I don't believe that they deserve what they're demanding. I think you would also see all of the long haul international crews, which right now are the most senior, become the least experienced. And a YYZ-YUL hop become the most senior. If I were getting paid $200 for a 80 minute flight I'd be all over that.
I heard a great suggestion the union could make if they really cared about just the pay rate. Give back some of their other benefits. Take away flight benefits, defined pension plans, company matched stock purchase plan and I bet they can get the hourly wage number to what the union wants without raising total compensation costs to the point that they can no longer be a competitive airline.

 

[ellbell]

This is blatantly false. The starting pay as of 4/1/24, the last step date listed in the previous contract was $30.02. At five years of service the hourly wage is $52.50 per hour. At ten years, it's $63.07. How can an average of all employees be less than the starting wage.

Personally knowing AC flights attendants myself who work more the 35 hours a month unpaid and make less than 32000 a year I think you need to do more research.

 

[scrappinginontario]

OP here. My questions have been answered. Please feel free to close the thread to avoid debate. Thanks.

 

[jump00]

Before the thread closes….. my dh and daughter are stuck in Paris. We’re suppose to be home today. Flight cancelled last night (did show it was on) won’t get a flight home til Friday! My daughter was on hold for 6 hours trying to rebook this week. No luck yet. $3000 per ticket for to get home Thursday via Air Transat.

Brenda

 

[scrappinginontario]

Before the thread closes….. my dh and daughter are stuck in Paris. We’re suppose to be home today. Flight cancelled last night (did show it was on) won’t get a flight home til Friday! My daughter was on hold for 6 hours trying to rebook this week. No luck yet. $3000 per ticket for to get home Thursday via Air Transat.

Brenda

Hoping this means your DH and daughter will be home sooner than Thurs! So sorry they’ve had to go through this. So stressful for everyone involved!

 

[EACarlson]

Personally knowing AC flights attendants myself who work more the 35 hours a month unpaid and make less than 32000 a year I think you need to do more research.

Considering my numbers are coming directly from the union, where else should I be doing research? The median pay rate for flight attendants according to both AC and the union is $54k/year, not including bonuses and benefits. $32k/year is 30% above what the federal government considers poverty wages in GTA, more than 50% above the MBM in some other statistical areas.

 

[ellbell]

Considering my numbers are coming directly from the union, where else should I be doing research? The median pay rate for flight attendants according to both AC and the union is $54k/year, not including bonuses and benefits. $32k/year is 30% above what the federal government considers poverty wages in GTA, more than 50% above the MBM in some other statistical areas.

That is for AC directly not AC rouge. More of the newer flight attendants fly on Rouge. There is a large discrepency between the 2. So the tenured attendants fly on AC and therefore make more.

But I digress, this is obviously something you refuse to see. You seem to be an employer yourself so refuse to see how poorly the employees are treated in this case. You do you but you are in the minority as 88% of the country has agreed that the employees are paid far too little and deserved to be allowed to bargain for getting paid for work they currently do for free and higher wages.

 

[EACarlson]

But I digress, this is obviously something you refuse to see. You seem to be an employer yourself so refuse to see how poorly the employees are treated in this case. You do you but you are in the minority as 88% of the country has agreed that the employees are paid far too little and deserved to be allowed to bargain for getting paid for work they currently do for free and higher wages.

How are the employees being treated poorly? They chose to enter a profession where this is how they are paid. The belief being that they paid their dues in the first couple of years and then started making good money. Not all that different than many other industries. They turned down a 38% compensation increase flat out. Demanding not only hourly wage increase, but then extending that to report time to release time. If they want to be paid report time to release time, then let's lower the hourly to reflect that. I don't hear the union offering any concessions for their outrageous demand.

Here is the question that was asked in that Angus Reid push poll. "In your opinion, do you think it is fair or unfair that Air Canada flight attendants are only paid for work while the plane is in the air?" Besides being factually wrong, flight attendants are paid as soon as the parking brake is disengaged, it does not take into consideration that the very high hourly rates paid to flight attendants is to offset that. It also doesn't take into consideration that AC has offered ground time pay, exactly the same as was recently put in place by Delta, the first airline to offer it. You also got the percentage wrong, the number is 84% believe it is unfair. When you ask uninformed people a question, you can't put much stock in their answer. The better question in that poll is the flight cost issue. Only 6% would be willing to pay 10% more for their flights.

Just heard that CUPE has announced they will not be following the order to return to work at 14:00 EDT.