With so many folks reaching out to learn more about CUPE we thought this would be the perfect time for another info session. You are invited to join us on Zoom April 29th at 13:30EST. We are thrilled that we will be joined by CUPE’s Airline Division President Wesley Lesosky. Wesley is an Air Canada flight attendant, a longstanding leader for flight attendants, and a national voice on ending unpaid work in the airline industry.

This will be an opportunity to learn about CUPE, the process of forming a union for Porter cabin crew, and to get your questions answered. You can also learn about how you can join the Unify Porter campaign to help make positive change in your workplace.

Send us an email at porter@cupe.ca for Zoom login info.

April 29^th, 2024, 13:30EST-15:00 EST

All workers covered by a collective agreement are involved in bargaining. Through a union, workers elect a bargaining committee. The bargaining committee sits across the negotiating table from the employer. The employer side is usually made up of lawyers and HR representatives. The union’s bargaining committee receives direction on workers’ bargaining priorities in a number of ways. Before the union’s bargaining committee prepares its proposals, workers are sent a survey, asking them about workplace issues and problems they may be facing due to their working conditions.  

Workers can voice their concerns to their union at any time, through grievances, at meetings or just by talking in the workplace. The more workers are involved in communicating with their union, the more their concerns will be brought to the bargaining table.  

Workers can campaign around making significant changes to the collective agreement, such as the current campaign around unpaid work launched by many unionized flight attendants. Workers’ demands for better working conditions make their way to the bargaining committee and then get proposed to the employer at the negotiating table.    

Through these methods, workers voices are heard at the bargaining table.  

Ready to start building your union? Sign your union card today.

Bargaining is the process where workers (through their union) and their employer negotiate over the terms of employment. The terms of employment are contained in the collective agreement which governs the workplace and must be followed by workers and the employer. The collective agreement stipulates things such as wages, working conditions, scheduling, sick days and benefits.

The length of the collective agreement is also negotiated between the workers and the employer. When a collective agreement is nearing expiry, then the two sides prepare to negotiate its renewal. This is an opportunity for workers to make improvements to their working conditions based on their experience with the previous collective agreement. Both sides come to the bargaining table with proposed changes to the collective agreement and negotiate over the differences until they reach a deal.

When the employer agrees to the deal and the workers democratically vote in favour of it, then the collective agreement is renewed for the agreed upon length.

Unlike the FOAG, a collective agreement is a legal document that both parties have to follow. This prevents your employer from making unilateral changes to your working conditions. While you may have elected cabin crew on the FOAG, at the end of the day your employer still has 100% of the decision-making power and they can override the committee’s suggestions. By forming your union, you can have a say in your working conditions and ensure that your voices are heard.

Ready to get one step closer to bargaining? Sign your union card today

You might be wondering: how does a union represent all workers during the bargaining process?

Some unions represent different workers’ job classifications, worksites, shifts etc. With these differences come different priorities about what workers want to achieve in bargaining.

In your case, you are in the process of building a new union at Porter, so you have the ability to build a union that represents the different needs of cabin crew. When you build your union, you create by-laws that govern how the union operates. In creating your by-laws, you can ensure diverse job classification and base representation in your union executive. For example, you can create bylaws that ensure your bargaining committee is comprised of workers from various locations and classifications to ensure fair representation for everyone in the workplace, and you can create committees for representing workers at different bases who will inform the executive about specific issues.

If you want to see diversity represented in your union structures, you are in a unique position to build those structures from scratch.  

By building a new union, you can ensure that all members, regardless of classification, base, aircraft type, etc. will have their voice heard at the bargaining table when it is time to negotiate better working conditions for all Porter cabin crew.

Ready to start building your union? Sign your union card today

By now we have all heard that major changes are coming to Porter’s operations at YHZ in 2025. We know this is difficult news for YHZ-based crews, and the uncertainty it creates will be challenging for you in the coming months.

Recently, we talked about how a union can help protect you and your rights at work while Porter expands and grows, as we are seeing this year at YOW, YUL, and YVR.

The same applies when Porter shrinks its operations as well, as we are sadly seeing in 2025 at YHZ.

While Porter has said it will work with the FOAG, a union would provide more transparency throughout the process. (We’ve highlighted why the FOAG is problematic here.)

If cabin crew at Porter had a collective agreement, there would already be clear language and protocols on what happens when the airline decides to make drastic changes on a scale like this.

Instead, it feels like the company is figuring it out on the fly, announcing major changes without being able to offer answers to basic questions about seniority, moving allowances, and more.

Porter flight attendants deserve better than that. A union can help during times of uncertainty, and when airlines try to pull a fast one on their employees.

In 2008, Air Canada closed their YHZ and YWG bases. CUPE stepped up for its members at these bases. When the dust settled, jobs were protected, flight attendants could have their education expenses paid to retrain for a different career, moving costs were paid, and important contract language was created that made commuting non-punishable.  CUPE also successfully secured a fund to cover commuting costs for YHZ flight attendants, at Air Canada’s expense. These are concrete examples of how CUPE stood up for flight attendants in uncertain times. Your union will do the same for you.

Having a union won’t stop Porter from being able to make business decisions. But as the people who literally keep this company in the air, flight attendants deserve a better say in how the company’s decisions affects your lives and livelihoods.

Flight attendants deserve to be involved earlier in the process to protect jobs and work constructively with the company to find solutions up front, instead of scrambling after the fact.

If you want to have the protection of a union during uncertain times – when Porter expands, and when it scales back – then sign your union card today.

We’re devastated for the flight attendants and all the workers at Lynx Air who will lose their jobs on Sunday at midnight.

It’s important to remember that while this is difficult news for flight attendants at Lynx, they are better off for belonging to CUPE. As union members, CUPE will be able to represent them and defend their rights, assist them through this transition, and ensure they receive everything they are legally entitled to as a result of Lynx Air’s decision to shutter its operations.

In the beginning, Lynx flight attendants reached out to CUPE because they wanted someone to be their voice, and CUPE will advocate vigorously on their behalf throughout the process ahead. CUPE has a proud history of success in achieving strong settlements for workers when companies are forced to shut down.

It is also crucial to underline one last thing: the employees’ decision to unionize had nothing to do with the company’s decision to close operations. The company has said so itself, stating that it was losing investors and didn’t have the capital to support continued operations.

This is a difficult day for everyone in our industry. Let’s keep the cabin crew at Lynx in our thoughts this weekend and in the days and weeks ahead.

We’re doing it for The Gram (and for your rights at work too).

Sorry. Had to.

But seriously, we are excited to be bringing our campaign to unify Porter flight attendants to social media.

We launched an Instagram page a few days ago, and we would love if you’d give us a follow @unifyporternow.

Please share with your friends and colleagues and help us extend our reach.

Oh, and if you haven’t already, sign your card to join CUPE and expand your rights at work today.

Earlier this week, Porter announced it will be opening three new jet bases later this year in Ottawa, Montreal, and Vancouver. This is awesome news! As a flight attendant union, CUPE supports growth and job creation in the sector.

But we also know how important it is for flight attendants to have someone looking out for them while companies pursue rapid expansion on a big scale – so that nobody is left behind in the shuffle.

A union can help protect you and your rights at work while your airline expands and grows.

A union would work to establish a fair process to manage flow, so the procedure for determining who is assigned to which base and which aircraft type is done fairly.

A union will also ensure you have the proper training to work on your new aircraft type, if that is changing as well.

A union can also help flight attendants at Porter protect and expand moving allowances if you’re required to change your base of operations.

Want to make sure you’re looked after as Porter expands? Sign your union card today.

Flight attendants at Lynx Air are just the latest to vote to join CUPE. Approximately 240 Lynx cabin crew based at Calgary and Toronto-Pearson will now have the protection and benefit of union membership. Will cabin crew at Porter be next?

The issues facing cabin crew at Lynx aren’t so different from the ones facing cabin crew at Porter. They want more control over their schedule, better compensation for long duty days, and a contract that addresses concerns over fatigue and compensation.

Now, with Canada’s flight attendant union in their corner, they’ll have the resources and tools to go out and make it a reality.

CUPE now represents flight attendants at 11 different airlines – small, medium, and large. Since 1984, CUPE has been working to make life better for flight attendants in Canada, and they are ready to bring those 40 years of experience and expertise to bear for flight attendants at Porter.

We love our jobs – let’s make them even better with the help of Canada’s flight attendant union.

Sign your card to join CUPE today!

One of the biggest differences when you have a union is that when your bosses break the rules, you have a union in your corner to help make things right.

When you form a union your work rules and working conditions are codified into a contract,  more commonly known as a collective agreement. This agreement is negotiated between your union – specifically, the employees elected to the bargaining committee – and your employer. Collective agreements are legally binding, meaning both employees and employer have to respect and follow the collective agreement. If your employer breaches the collective agreement your union can file a complaint, known as a grievance.

The process for filing a grievance is slightly different in every collective agreement, but most tend to follow similar steps that increasingly escalate. In the early stages of a grievance, the individual or union local has a discussion with the employer. This process continues through different stages in the hopes of resolving the issue.

If it is still not resolved, a local may decide to refer a grievance to arbitration. Arbitration is sort of like a labour court, where an independent arbitrator will issue a final decision on the grievance. Knowing that a matter can be referred to arbitration is often incentive for an employer to try to resolve the issue sooner – and often, it’s an incentive not to breach the collective agreement in the first place!

That’s a world of difference from where we are with Porter today. Right now, if Porter doesn’t follow the FOAG, there are no consequences, and as employees, we have no means to hold them accountable. But with a union, we will have a process in place if Porter does not respect and follow the rules.

Have questions about grievances, or anything else to do with forming a union? Contact us at porter@cupe.ca.

And if you’re ready to sign your card and expand your rights at work, sign your union card today.