Yesterday, Porter distributed a memo announcing “we will be the first Canadian airline to introduce Pay for Boarding for Cabin Crew, effective January 1, 2025.” Unfortunately, that is not correct. But we are happy to set the record straight!
Cabin crew at Pascan Aviation – who are unionized with CUPE – were actually the first to enjoy paid boarding when they negotiated it into their very first contract after unionizing in 2022.
While Porter is only promising to pay cabin crew for a part for boarding, Pascan flight attendants get their full rate for a full hour for boarding. Pascan flight attendants also negotiated full pay for other ground duties and training.
So, in reality, Porter will not be the first airline to offer Pay for Boarding, and their offer falls far short of the Pay for Boarding that unionized flight attendants already enjoy.
And as you might have noticed, Air Canada flight attendants unionized with CUPE are currently campaigning for full rate of pay for all hours worked in their negotiations that just got under way.
It’s clear: with a union, we will have real power to end the rampant abuse of unpaid work, not just at Porter but across our entire industry.
Meanwhile, it isn’t even clear how this policy will work. Is it full-pay for half an hour? Or is it half-pay for half an hour – in other words, 15 minutes of our regular pay? At the moment, no one seems to know.
But we know one thing: boarding doesn’t take 15 minutes and we are lucky if it only takes 30. Half-pay is just another half-measure, and we are worth more than that.
We can do better than half-measures – and we will, once we have our union.
If you’re ready for the real thing, sign your union card today!