Air Canada Plane. Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK After the strikes halted Air Canada's operations since August 16, 2025, the airline is now in negotiations with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
At the beginning of the month, the flight attendants' union rejected the tentative agreement from August 19, which included improvements in salary, pensions, and benefits, continuing the salary dispute.
Air Canada has now announced that the salary component of the collective agreement will be taken directly to arbitration after the union requested to bypass the planned mediation phase.
This ensures that crew members will promptly receive their salary increases and retroactive payments starting from April 2025.
A four-year framework agreement was reached between the parties last August, including improvements in wages, pensions, and benefits, alongside modern updates to ground work pay mechanisms. However, the agreement was not approved in the flight attendants' vote.
As part of the understanding, it was pre-determined that the salary issue would first go to mediation, and if necessary, to arbitration.
In parallel, it was agreed that no strikes or lockouts would be allowed, and flights would continue as scheduled.
The union formally requested on September 12, 2025, to skip the mediation stage and move directly to arbitration, and Air Canada agreed, stating it was "in a spirit of cooperation".