Air Canada’s flight attendants are returning to work after their union announced a tentative agreement with the airline on Tuesday morning, officially ending the strike.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents about 10,400 flight attendants, said in a message to members: “The strike has ended. We have a tentative agreement we will bring forward to you.”
One of the key sticking points was pay for duties outside of flight time — such as boarding passengers — which had previously gone unpaid. The tentative deal includes compensation for that work.
Air Canada had earlier offered a 38 percent increase in total compensation over four years, including a 25 percent raise in the first year, but the union had pushed for stronger gains.
The walkout forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights, affecting an estimated half a million passengers. Air Canada and its Rouge affiliate normally carry around 130,000 customers each day.
With an agreement in place, flight attendants are expected to return to work, though a formal ratification vote by union members is still pending. Service will take time to fully resume as staff and aircraft are brought back into place.
