Nobody flies for free: MP calls for an end to unpaid labour for flight attendants

It’s a fight and flight situation.

A Port Moody-Coquitlam MP is calling for a new airline industry standard that would ensure flight attendants are paid for their training as well as the work they do before the plane takes off and after it lands.

“Big airline bosses are profiting off of unpaid labour of flight attendants,” Zarrillo said while speaking in Parliament on Monday.

On average, flight attendants work 35 unpaid hours each month, Zarrillo said. The MP put forward a private member’s bill mandating that airlines pay flight attendants for a “pre-flight and post-flight duties,” as well as training at their regular wage rate.

After criticizing consecutive Liberal and Conservative governments for overlooking the issue, Zarrillo asked the government to support her bill on Monday.

Support was not forthcoming from Minister for Labour Steven MacKinnon, who noted that airlines are private sector entities and that the government’s role is to set a minimum standard.

“Flight attendants have a collective agreement which sets out their hours and their wages and it’s not my place to comment on it,” MacKinnon replied.

Air Canada’s compensation for flight attendants is consistent with most other global airlines, according to a statement from the airline

“The model currently in place was endorsed by the union in the last bargaining round and has been incorporated in other collective bargaining agreements dating back many years,” stated a release from Air Canada..

The airline is “open to discuss this item” during upcoming contract talks.

Zarrillo’s bill found support with CUPE’s Airline Division, the union which represents approximately 18,500 flight attendants.

“For decades, our employers have tried to convince us that the practice of forcing employees to perform hours and hours of free work is normal – because that’s just the way it’s always been,” stated CUPE Airline Division secretary-treasurer Rena Kisfalvi, who works as a Sunwing flight attendant. “Well, those days are over. We simply won’t accept it any longer.”

In most cases, airlines in Canada pay flight attendants when airplanes are in motion, the union stated. However, duties around boarding, pre-flight safety checks, and waiting to disembark while a plane is held at the gate after landing are not always paid, according to a release from CUPE’s Airline Division.

The union also noted that flight attendants are required to be familiar with a plane’s oxygen system, lighting, and water and waste systems, as well as being well-versed in emergency protocols and first-aid.

“Flight attendants are in a constant cycle of keeping their training up to date,” the union stated in a release. “Some of these duties are paid, but many are paid at or below the federal minimum wage, and even more are not paid at all, depending on which airline you work for.”