By Skies Magazine | January 8, 2024 Estimated reading time 2 minutes, 59 seconds.
Air Transat has reached a new tentative collective agreement with the union representing its flight attendants.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) confirmed the tentative deal in a statement on Jan. 8, 2024. CUPE represents 2,100 Air Transat flight attendants based in Montreal and Toronto.
“We are happy to have concluded a new tentative agreement that satisfies both parties and that will enable Air Transat to remain competitive,” said Julie Lamontagne, chief people, communications and sustainability officer at Transat, in a separate statement.
The new tentative deal follows five days of discussions, after CUPE members rejected a previous agreement reached on Dec. 14, 2023. Flight attendants voted 98.1 per cent against the previous agreement, with 87 per cent of members participating in the vote, CUPE said.
Terms of the new tentative agreement have not been released, and both CUPE and Air Transat said they will not comment on the deal prior to a vote. The flight attendants’ collective agreement expired more than a year ago, on Oct. 31, 2022.
Negotiations began officially on April 27, 2023, and flight attendants adopted a strike mandate by a near-unanimous vote on Nov. 27. The 99.8 per cent vote to strike is, “by far the highest tally in the history of CUPE’s Air Transat component,” the union said.
“In response to the unforeseen rejection of the first tentative agreement last week, we immediately returned to the bargaining table to explore all possible solutions,” said Lamontagne. “We are confident that this new offer will meet our flight attendants’ expectations and will adequately reflect their interests.”
In the meantime, the airline said, all Air Transat flights are maintained.
The Air Transat Component is part of CUPE’s Airline Division, which represents more than 18,500 flight attendants at Air Transat, Air Canada Rouge, Sunwing, WestJet, Encore, Calm Air, Canadian North, Pivot Airlines, PAL and Pascan.
