Flight attendants would be paid for safety work in new agreement, but still less than minimum wage
As Air Canada flight attendants cast their votes on a tentative agreement, a critical issue sits at the centre of the labour dispute: the pre-flight safety checks that ensure every passenger’s well-being. For decades, these mandatory checks have been unpaid work—a practice that may now be phased out.
Safety checks as unpaid work
“Safety checks are not optional. They are a regulatory requirement, and they are the first line of defense for every passenger on board,” says Wesley Lesosky, president of the Air Canada Component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). “Prior to the flight, we’re required to show up an hour before…and that’s typically not paid. We get paid when the plane starts moving, until the plane comes to a stop.”
These safety checks—mandated by Transport Canada—include verifying emergency equipment, ensuring exits are clear, and confirming that all safety protocols are in place. “It’s a requirement. It’s not an optional thing. And that’s kind of why we started this campaign two and a half years ago: how can you require someone to do something, especially when the government imposes that it must be done, yet somebody says, ‘Oh, we’re not going to pay you for that?” Lesosky asks.
New agreement details
The proposed agreement, now before flight attendants, would change this. For the first time, Air Canada flight attendants would receive compensation for safety checks—though not at their full hourly rate. “They’re compensated for 50% of… their rate. On a wide body aircraft, it’ll be 70 minutes at 50% of their rate. So some of these people will be doing this under the current proposed agreement, if it moves forward…at below minimum wage,” Lesosky explains.
More than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants are participating in the ratification vote that closes September 6. The 4-year deal includes a cumulative wage increase of 20 percent for flight attendants with less than five years of service and 17 percent for those with more than five years experience. Lesosky notes, “what we’re hearing is it will not ratify, so that portion would be referred to arbitration.”
Value of safety-critical work
For health and safety leaders, the implications are clear. “If you think of the safety aspect of aviation, there are so many checks that are done on the ground, both post flight and preflight. Once you’re in the air, if any of that’s overlooked, you’re trapped in a metal tube. So to think that these elements aren’t compensated is quite irrational,” Lesosky says. “They should be compensated because they’re the serious elements of the flight… prior to take off, it’s incredibly important to make sure that all that medical equipment is checked, that it’s there, that the smoke extinguishers are available, not plugged and ready to use, that the safety briefing is completed as it should be, that everything’s stowed so there’s not injury on takeoff.”
Canadian Occupational Safety reached out to Air Canada for comment on the issue of safety checks. The company declined an interview on the subject.
As the vote unfolds, the industry watches closely. The outcome could set a precedent for how safety-critical work is valued—not just at Air Canada, but across the sector. “You can’t cut corners on safety,” Lesosky warns.
