Canada’s Air Transat reaches new deal with flight attendants’ union

(Reuters) -A union representing 2,100 flight attendants has reached an agreement over a new labor contract with Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said on Monday, easing fears of a strike that could have crippled the carrier’s operations.

General meetings of the members will be held in the next few days to disclose the content of the agreement and present it for their vote, CUPE said in a statement.

Air Transat did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

Earlier this month, the flight attendants rejected a tentative agreement with the airline, mainly because the deal did not offer pay raises in keeping with higher living costs, CUPE had said.

Flight attendants in Canada and the United States are pushing airlines to end an industry practice, where they are not compensated for the time spent during boarding and waiting at airports before and between flights.

Last month, flight attendants at Southwest Airlines (NYSE:) voted against a five-year contract that would have made them the highest-paid cabin crew in the industry, but did not include compensation for boarding time.

The move comes as labor unions are aggressively pressing North American carriers for better pay, benefits and working conditions, a strategy that yielded record contracts for some pilots.

Alaska Air (NYSE:) flight attendants on Monday will begin a strike authorization vote for the first time in two decades. The vote will extend through Feb. 13.

In Canada, Transat flight attendants voted in late November to authorize a mandate that would allow them to strike, with 72 hours’ notice.

The collective agreement for flight attendants based at airports in Montreal and Toronto expired on Oct. 31, 2022.