Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat has reached another tentative five-year contract agreement with its 2,100 flight attendants following the union’s rejection of the airline’s first offer.
The Montreal-based carrier said on 8 January that the new deal with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) would be effective immediately – if accepted by union members.
”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,” says Julie Lamontagne, Transat’s chief people, communications and sustainability officer.
Transat and CUPE reached the first tentative agreement on 14 December. However, it was rejected by more than 98% of union membership on 3 January due to ”insufficient wage increases in relation to the cost of living and the stagnating compensation from previous years”, the union said at the time.
“Given the members’ rather acute dissatisfaction, the union may end up filing a strike notice,” CUPE added. “If a strike does take place, all flights will be cancelled.”
The collective agreement for Transat’s flight attendants – all of whom are based in Montreal and Toronto – expired on 31 October 2022. Negotiations have been ongoing since April.
Transat says it will not comment on the details of the new tentative agreement.
