Months away from being eligible to strike, Air Canada flight attendants are demanding compensation for unpaid work at an interactive pop-up exhibit on Queen Street West this weekend.
The three-day initiative — called “Unfair Canada” — is a parody experience that exaggerates the airline’s “corporate greed” while detailing how bad flying could get for passengers if certain requests aren’t met through the country’s biggest airline.
Exhibits have popped up in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal in recent weeks.
The Air Canada Component of CUPE, which represents 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, claims its employees are only getting paid while the plane is in motion.
Boarding, deplaning, safety checks and flight delays are not compensated, according to union members.
Those items headline a lengthy list of alleged unpaid duties, which have been on display at the downtown exhibit since Friday. Visitors can take in several displays of the airline’s “new features” — like a plane with no seats and updated carry-on requirements.
Flight attendants are available to share their concerns with attendees at the Toronto pop-up, and visitors also have the option of sending an email to Air Canada to demand appropriate wages.
Shanyn Elliott, a flight attendant with Air Canada Rouge for the last seven years, told TorontoToday she and her colleagues are required to work up to 35 hours unpaid per month — and she’s had enough.
“It’s mind-boggling,” she said. “A lot of the public doesn’t know. People think when the flight is delayed, we’re getting paid. We’re actually not. We want to get going just as much as the passengers. We just want to be compensated fairly for the time we spent at work.”
Elliott explained that flight attendants are only getting paid between the time the aircraft begins pulling back from the gate and 15 minutes after they arrive to the gate at their destination.
She noted the ones who are working up to four travel legs a day — like on shorter flights between Toronto and Montreal — are particularly feeling the brunt of the issue.
“That’s at least four hours of their workday they’re not paid for,” Elliott said. “When they deplane, that’s another hour of work they’re not compensated for.”
According to Indeed, the average hourly pay for an Air Canada flight attendant is $30 per hour. Elliott claims the full-time starting wage is $27,000 per year.
Members will be in a position to strike after the ongoing 10-year collective agreement with the airline expires March 31. Elliott is hopeful it doesn’t come to that.
“Nobody wants a strike,” she said. “We want to get the public support now so that if it does get to a point where we have to strike, then at least everybody understands why.”
