Conservative MP Leanne Rood has introduced a private member’s bill that would ensure cabin crew are paid for their pre- and post-flight work.
Flight attendants have been calling for changes to labor laws because they aren’t paid until the plane is in motion and their pay ends when the plane lands and sits at the gate.
“This is unfair and puts many women and diverse Canadians at a disadvantage,” Rood said in introducing the bill on Wednesday.
According to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Aviation Division, which represents 18,000 flight attendants, flight attendants work an average of 35 hours of unpaid work per month, including duties such as monitoring boarding and disembarking.
C-409 would amend the Labor Code to add a provision requiring flight attendants to be paid for “performing all pre-flight and post-flight duties related to aircraft safety and passenger service, including assisting with boarding and disembarking and pre-flight cabin and passenger safety inspections.”
Wesley Lesoski, a flight attendant and president of CUPE’s aviation division, said the proposed legislation is “significant.”
“I think it’s great that there’s growing support for paying cabin crew so I’m very pleased that something is being introduced,” he said.
But Lesosky said the Conservatives had not consulted with unions before introducing the bill and the bill was open to some amendments.
The current bill says flight attendants should be paid when they complete mandatory training, but Lesoski said the language needs to be changed to say flight attendants must receive their full hourly rate for mandatory training.
“For training, for example, many of us are paid half the hourly rate or minimum wage, whichever is higher,” he said.
“Flight attendants deserve to be paid their full hourly rate for their mandatory training.”
The NDP has been calling on the government to make similar changes to labour laws, and Leader Jagmeet Singh and MP Bonita Zarrillo held a press conference with CUPE members in May to raise awareness of the issue.
Zarrillo told CBC News he wants to see that the reforms proposed by the Conservatives are thorough enough before deciding whether to support the bill.
“There’s been limited consultation on this bill, so we want to make sure we consult with workers,” she said.
“We want to ensure that this bill goes far enough to meet all the needs of unpaid workers and unpaid cabin crew.”
In a media statement, CUPE said the lack of consultation by the Conservatives was “disappointing,” but Lesosky said he was encouraged by the fact that the issue has bipartisan support.
“There are two political parties behind this plan. It certainly makes us pause and realize that this is a great thing. It’s moving forward and there’s momentum,” he said.
Rood declined to be interviewed. A Conservative spokesman referred CBC News to a statement he made Wednesday when he introduced the bill.
The House of Representatives is on summer recess, meaning the bill won’t be debated until lawmakers return in the fall. But private member-initiated bills rarely pass Congress on time, and never do so at all.
Asked whether the Liberal Party would support the bill, Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan’s office said they were assessing Rood’s bill.
“We take the issues facing flight attendants very seriously and are currently reviewing the legislation,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Lesoski said he doesn’t expect the bill to be passed before the next election, but he hopes that labor law reforms will be included in political parties’ policy platforms.
