VICTORIA— Wesley Lesosky, president of CUPE’s Air Canada Component, gave CUPE BC delegates an inside look at how CUPE flight attendants took on Canada’s biggest airline and the federal government—and won.
“We started with our organizing, and organizing I think was something that we did considerably different than the last time we went into bargaining, and that was starting two years out,” said Lesosky, who is also president of the CUPE’s Airlines Division.
Those two years of preparation focused on the Unpaid Work Won’t Fly campaign.
“We needed strong public support on our side, and we were able to do that with a public facing campaign,” said Lesosky. “As all Canadians know, (Air Canada) is already a villain, and we got the public to see that the poor treatment they get from the airline, flight attendants deal with every day, by way of copious amounts of unpaid work.
When bargaining did begin, Lesosky says progress was slow, near non-existent. After nine months at the table, they were not close to addressing unpaid work and fair wages.
Flight attendants responded to the stalled talks with an over 99% strike vote. But before they could walk off the job, the federal government tried to strip them of their right to strike with back to work legislation.
CUPE flight attendants, however, did not give in to Air Canada, and defied the federal government, walking off the job and on to the picket line anyway
“Here in Vancouver, we were first to go out with strength and solidarity,” said Lesosky. “We shut down Air Canada from east to west from Asia to Australia.”
With picket lines up and flights grounded, Air Canada blinked and made a call to Lesosky and his bargaining committee.
“They wanted to see if a deal could be made. It took them a few days, but it was due to our members defiance of Air Canada and the federal government,” recounted Lesosky, who also credited the support of the national officers on picket lines, and behind-the-scenes support of CUPE staff.
A deal was reached that made progress on eliminating unpaid work. Lesosky says more work is needed, and preparations are already under way for the next round of bargaining.
“We will succeed and fight the same fight if needed in 2029. We will never accept that we are not worth more, and we will always be united and stronger from what we went through and what we learned,” he said.
