TORONTO — As Air Canadaʻs flight attendants begin to vote on their new contract, hashed out between the airline and the union in the early hours of Aug. 19, an Air Canada flight attendant whoʻs also VP of CUPE 4094 says “frustration persists.”
Strike action on Aug. 16, 17 and 18 threw the Canadian travel industry into chaos, with travel advisors telling Travelweek about their stress and frustration on the eve of the strike: “My emails are nonstop with clients asking if their flights will be cancelled and I can’t tell them – I have no idea.”
Last night Henly Larden, Air Canada flight attendant and VP of CUPE 4094, posted an open letter to Air Canada passengers as the vote gets underway.
Larden said “the past weeks will go down in history for airline workers in Canada … 10,000 flight attendants stood up to Canada’s federal government and one of the largest companies in the country to end unpaid work.”
She said Air Canadaʻs flight attendants “still have not crossed the finish line in our goal of ending unpaid work. This remains an emotional time for flight attendants,” and added “it was never our intention to inconvenience our passengers. All we wanted was fair wages and to be recognized as the safety professionals we are trained to be.”
The mediated tentative agreement requires ratification by Air Canadaʻs flight attendants to seal the deal, with voting starting today and running through Sept. 6.
Said Larden: “What is clear to me, and to many of my colleagues, is that our struggle to be recognized is not over. Unpaid work is not over. We have made important progress, but our job is far from done. Although we will not be returning to a picket line this year, we will continue pushing those responsible for putting us in our current predicament and the ones with the power to change it: the government of Canada.”
She said the union will continue to fight with public rallies and political lobbying.
On Aug. 16, just hours after the strike began, Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to order binding arbitration and get the flight attendants back on the job. Flight attendants ignored the order and remained on strike until a deal was finally reached.
Minister Patty Hajdu later announced that the federal government is launching a probe into allegations of unpaid work in the airline sector.
CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS
Meanwhile in the wake of the Air Canada strike comes news that a lawsuit was filed Aug. 21 in Quebec Superior Court against Air Transat, accused by the suitʻs plaintiff of inflating airfares during the strike. The class action suit aims to represent “all persons worldwide who booked a flight with Air Transat since August 14, 2025 and were charged an inflated or excessive price as compared to the prices historically charged by Air Transat for similar routes during the same period.”
According to CTV News, the plaintiff was looking for a way home from Barcelona to Montreal after the Air Canada strike left her and her husband stranded overseas. Their two original roundtrip tickets with Air Canada from YUL to Barcelona via Rome cost the couple $2,784.62. Needing to get home to Montreal as they didnʻt have enough medication to extend their stay in Spain during the strike, they spent $5,355.52 for two one-way tickets with Air Transat.
The National Post is reporting on two more class action lawsuits following the strike, one against Air Canada, the other against CUPE, also filed in Quebec Superior Court.
