2025 Air Canada flight attendants strike

2025 Air Canada flight attendants strike
Picket line at Toronto Pearson Airport
DateAugust 16–19, 2025 (2025-08-16 – 2025-08-19) (3 days)
Location
Caused byFailure to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement
Goals
  • Increased wages for flight attendants
  • Compensation for unpaid work
StatusTentative agreement reached on August 19, 2025. Some flights resume. 99.1% voting employees reject wage offer portion of agreement.
Parties
Lead figures

Vagn Sørensen (Chairman of the board of directors of Air Canada)
Michael Rousseau (CEO of Air Canada)

Mark Hancock (President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees)
Wesley Lesosky (President of CUPE's Air Canada Component)

The 2025 Air Canada flight attendants strike refers to an ongoing labour dispute between 10,517 flight attendants working with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and Air Canada, that evolved into a strike from August 16–19, 2025. The strike affected flights on Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, but not other brands under Air Canada Express, run by Jazz Aviation and PAL Airlines.

Jobs minister Patty Hajdu imposed binding arbitration, and the Canada Industrial Relations Board subsequently issued a return-to-work order, which was defied by the union. On August 19, both parties announced that they had arrived at a tentative agreement which would be subject to ratification by membership. Air Canada indicated it would start resuming flights from the same day. The vote by CUPE members to ratify the agreement began on August 27 and lasted until September 6, 2025, ending with 99.1% of voting employees rejecting the wage offer portion of the agreement.