Members of the Air Transat Flight Attendants Union rejected the agreement in principle reached on December 14 between their representatives and their employer.
The decision was almost unanimous. In the vote from December 20th to 23rd, 98.1% of participants decided that the new employment contract did not meet the requirements.
“The insufficient salary increases related to the cost of living and the stagnation of salaries” would be the main reason for this refusal by the 2,100 members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
“Air Transat flight attendants have told us clearly that this agreement would not have helped alleviate the suffering and financial insecurity they experience every day,” explains CUPE Air Transat Component President Dominic. Levasseur, in a press release.
The issue of unpaid work when boarding and waiting at the airport is also a big topic in the current negotiations.
Strike possible
Air Transat and the union now plan to resume negotiations from Wednesday.
“In view of the particularly high level of dissatisfaction among members, it will always be possible that the union will announce a strike,” warns the employee representatives. If such measures come into force, all of the company's flights would be canceled.
On November 27, flight attendants at Montreal (YUL) and Toronto (YYZ) airports received a 99.8% strike mandate, by far the highest result in the history of CUPE's Air Transat component.
Your collective agreement expired more than a year ago.
Can you share information about this story?
Write to us or call us directly at 1 800-63SCOOP.