Air Canada, flight attendants' union reach tentative deal to end strike

Air Canada's unionized flight attendants has reached an agreement with the country's largest carrier, the union said on Tuesday.

"The Strike has ended. We have a tentative agreement we will bring forward to you," the Canadian Union of Public Employees said in a Facebook post.

The carrier had earlier offered a 38% increase in total compensation for flight attendants over four years, with a 25% raise in the first year, which the union deemed insufficient.


Flight attendants had sought pay for tasks such as boarding passengers, which are currently not remunerated. They are now paid for time when the plane is moving.

The CUPE, which represents Air Canada's 10,400 flight attendants, wanted to make gains on unpaid work that go beyond recent advances secured by their counterparts at U.S. carriers like American Airlines.

The agreement provides some relief for the carrier, which canceled hundreds of flights.

Air Canada and its low-cost affiliate Air Canada Rouge normally carry about 130,000 customers a day. The airline is also the foreign carrier with the largest number of flights to the U.S.