Summary
- Air Transat flight attendants union rejects tentative agreement in ongoing contract dispute, with 81.9% voting against the deal.
- Union members vote to renew strike mandate if no deal is made, earning 94.6% approval among the many union.
- Previous tentative agreement was also rejected in January, with nearly 99.8% support for strike mandate.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) announced that Air Transat’s flight attendants union rejected the tentative agreement on January seventh, continuing the months-long contract dispute. While the agreement was negotiated between airline executives and union representation, the 10-day voting period on the agreement resulted in 81.9% of the two,100-strong flight attendant union members voting to reject the deal, in response to an announcement.
The vote to reject the proposed agreement included a vote to renew the mandate to strike if a deal shouldn’t be made, earning 94.6% approval among the many union. While union votes can sometimes be difficult within the airline industry as employees are consistently moving, greater than 88.7% of the union participated within the vote.
Photo: Air Transat
Before the vote, the union spent several days normally meetings to review the deal. On the time, the airline said it was pleased to have reached the agreement. Previous statements from CUPE indicated that the union was responding to rising living costs, which led it to hunt salary increases.
With the vote concluded, each parties will resume negotiations, which have been ongoing since April last yr. The union pledged to not issue further comments on the refusal to vote, per the CUPE statement. The previous collective agreement began on October thirty first, 2022.
Long history of rejection
This is not the primary time the union has rejected a tentative agreement reached with the airline. A previous tentative agreement reached in December was rejected on January 2nd, and the previous mandate to strike received nearly 99.8% support.
After that vote, CUPE’s Air Transat President Dominic Levasseur said, “The Air Transat flight attendants clearly indicated to us that the agreement didn’t relieve the suffering and financial insecurity they experience each day.”
Photo: Air Transat
Air Transat is not the only airline facing union difficulties. Weeks ago in america, negotiations between Avelo Airlines and its flight attendants heated up ahead of a vote for its flight attendants to unionize, while other passenger and cargo airlines have all had high-profile contract negotiations and strikes previously yr. Several airport work groups in Europe have also gone on strikes, shutting down operations at airports in France and Germany.
Last week in Germany, Lufthansa’s cabin crew union called for a 15% pay increase at Lufthansa Cityline, while German inflation increased near 4%. Other airlines like EVA Air had their pilots’ union vote to go on strike in the course of the Lunar Recent 12 months, which runs February Tenth-Fifteenth. Meanwhile, airlines like Southwest, American Airlines, and United Airlines have reached deals with their respective pilot’s unions.
Air Transat, for its part, reached net profits in 2023 for the primary time since Covid. The airline currently operates a fleet of 1 A320, 23 A321s, 13 A330s, and five 737s. Plenty of Air Transat’s A321s are A321neoLRs, which the airline has utilized to expand service to the Caribbean. Nevertheless, Air Transat also expects to ground a few of its A321LR fleet as a result of issues with its Pratt & Whitney engines.