As we’ve seen time and time again,  Porter can make changes to our working conditions whenever they want – to make them better, or worse.

This month, Porter is implementing its new 24-hour reserve policy, which is making it very difficult for many of you to manage your work-life balance and hold a second job. Porter has also decided to arbitrarily issue reserve conversion with little explanation for the change.

In recent months, Porter has shown they can give cabin crew the job improvements they deserve when they want to – and they can also take our rights away whenever they feel like it.

Without a union (and an enforceable collective agreement), anything Porter gives out today, they can take away tomorrow. That’s just the sad reality.

Employers always float wage increases and new perks when they’re under pressure from union drives, only to claw them back later.

The company has been hoping their promise of a wage bump for some employees on the former B-scale would distract from the unfair changes they’ve made to the reserve policy and increasing the length of your duty day without a comparable duty premium. WestJet flight attendants, for example, who are represented by CUPE, receive a $200 duty premium for minutes 1-60 beyond a maximum duty period and $400 for minutes 61-120 after that.

Porter talks a lot about how these new changes finally bring the company in line with industry standards. But we don’t want to simply carry on chasing industry standards – we want to set our own, and with a union, we can.

Without a union, Porter can give, but they also can (and will) take away.

With a union, Porter won’t be able to make changes to our contract or take away our hard-fought wins arbitrarily. With a union, we’ll have a strong, united voice, and an enforceable contract to protect and advance our working conditions.

Let’s show the company we’re determined to have a voice. If you haven’t already, sign your card today. Signing a union card is a two-step process: after you’ve signed up, you will also need to pay a federally-mandated $5 application which is required by the Canada Industrial Relations Board. You can now pay your fee via e-transfer to porter@cupe.ca – easy-peasy!

Ensuring the health and safety for passengers is such a central part of a flight attendant’s job. But who looks out for our health and safety at work?

The reality is that employer non-compliance with basic occupational health and safety obligations is pretty common through the airline sector – unless there’s a union pushing back to ensure employees’ health and safety is being protected.

CUPE has represented flight attendants in Canada since 1984. As Canada’s flight attendant union, CUPE has been a leading voice for the health and safety of airline workers for nearly four decades, on issues ranging from pandemic PPE to cosmic radiation monitoring, to cabin air quality, layover safety, and passenger-to-flight attendant ratios.

CUPE has a dedicated senior health and safety officer for the airline sector, who works with flight attendants across Canada to provide guidance to employers and inspectors, advocate for union members, and deliver top-of-the-line health and safety training. CUPE’s National Healthy and Safety Committee provides networking and information-sharing opportunities for workers across the country.

Consider your own experience:

• Have you been taught about your four health and safety rights at work?
• Does your employer respond quickly when you file a health and safety complaint?
• Do you have a health and safety committee at each base?
• Does your health and safety committee participate in investigations?
• Does your health and safety committee inspect your workplace, including the planes you fly on?

If you answered “no” or “I don’t know” to any of these questions, then your workplace suffers from a weak health and safety culture.

But a union can help change that culture, and ensure we make it home safe at the end of the day, and healthy at the end of our careers.

Sign your union card today to take the next step towards a safer, healthier workplace for Porter cabin crew!

As you already know, Porter has substantially reduced how and when cabin crew can trade pairings. Reserve holders and block holders can no longer trade with one another – only within their respective groups.

This means a much smaller pool to trade pairings, much less flexibility for you to alter your schedule, and a lot less freedom for all Porter cabin crew to control daily life.

The new changes limit cabin crew to three trades, swaps, or drops per bid period. If you get a bad schedule or have something come up in your life and you need to make more than three changes to your schedule? Tough luck!

These changes, combined with the other changes coming to reserve in January, will make things a lot harder for everyone – but especially those of us with another job (or jobs).

These changes don’t just affect our work life – they impact our personal life, our home life, and our work-life balance as a whole.

It’s just another example of how, without a union and a collective agreement, Porter can and will make changes that have significant negative impacts on all of us – and we get no say whatsoever.

But with a union and an enforceable contract, Porter won’t be able to make these kinds of major changes to our working conditions unilaterally. They will have to work with us.

If you’re like us and you’ve had enough, and you want a real voice and a real say at your job, sign your union card today.

And if you’ve already signed your union card, why not share this message with a few colleagues?

It’s tough for flight attendants to access affordable, healthy food away from home – especially when we’re often transiting through airports and airport hotels. It’s especially tough when inflation is rampant and Porter is only giving us $3.60/hour while we’re away from base.

We end up paying more for meals because of airport prices – even Tim Horton’s prices are jacked up at the airport. Food restrictions at international borders make it even harder to pack meals for the workday and avoid buying food in inflated US dollars.

As flight attendants, we deserve better than struggling to feed ourselves on the job.

Porter flight attendants deserve “best-in-class” working conditions, and that includes meal per diems that keep up with inflation and allow us to stay fed and healthy away from home.

With a union, we can make it happen.

Air Transat flight attendants represented by CUPE negotiated for $4.73/hour in Canada and up to $6.76/hour outside of Canada for meals (see here, page 75).

Air Canada flight attendants represented by CUPE negotiated their per diems by meal (see here, page 33), and in 2024 they’ll be receiving $17.95 for breakfast, $20.33 for lunch, $40.27 for dinner, and $10.53 for snacks. That’s up to $89 per day to cover meals – and when they’re working in the United States, those figures are paid in US dollars.

Compare that with the $3.70/hour that Porter will pay us in 2024 and it’s abundantly clear that our working conditions need to improve.

Inflation is taking its toll on our wallets but with a union, we can stand together and ensure everyone is keeping their head above-water.

Sign your union card to join CUPE today!

Last week, in a memo to cabin crew, Porter CEO Michael Deluce backtracked on his recent statement calling the FOAG “a privilege, not a right”.

Regardless of the words Mr. Deluce chooses to describe the situation, under the current arrangement at Porter, cabin crew don’t have rights – just “privileges”.

Another privilege Mr. Deluce alluded to in his recent memo to cabin crew is “regular benchmarking to ensure we continue to offer best-in-class working conditions to all our flight crew.”

“Benchmarking” is corporate jargon for picking and choosing some elements from contracts at unionized airlines based on what suits the company, and then calling it proof that Porter offers “best-in-class” working conditions.

In reality, “benchmarking” is done entirely at the company’s discretion and choosing. Far from being “best-in-class”, it’s more like doing the bare minimum.

By comparison, CUPE has a dedicated researcher for the airline sector who helps flight attendants identify and achieve the best contract language and workplace protections in the industry. And because that researcher works for union members – not the company – you can actually trust the information they give you about what’s actually “best-in-class”.

It’s clear: with a collective agreement, we can expect regular pay increases on predictable timelines. With a union, we’ll have the resources and the backing (like research, legal, and health and safety expertise) to ensure we get the contract that fits our needs and lifts up our working conditions across the board. And with a union, nothing will stop management from offering us a raise or an improvement in our working conditions, as long as we agree to it.

If you agree that rights aren’t rights when someone can just take them away, sign your card today.

Porter CEO Michael Deluce recently said during a virtual townhall that “the FOAG is a privilege, not a right.” These comments have seen a lot of Porter cabin crew asking us what the difference is between the current Flight Operations Administration Guide (FOAG) and an enforceable union contract.

Let’s just say there are many differences.

For starters, the provisions under the FOAG are voluntary for Porter – as Mr. Deluce has made pretty clear. The word “guide” is right there in the name! But with a union contract, our rights will be laid out in black and white, and the company must respect them or face consequences.

Next, the FOAG committee is made up of 13 people, but eight of them are from the management side, and only five from the employee side. The deck is already stacked against cabin crew under FOAG, but with a union, we meet our employer on a level playing field – no one can unilaterally overrule the other.

With the FOAG, Porter can make changes at any time, regardless of our feedback and our concerns that we relayed through the committee. But with a real contract, Porter won’t be able to make changes to our working conditions without our agreement.

With the FOAG, there’s a process in place to hear employee feedback – but no accountability from the company to ensure that feedback is acted upon. With a union, the company will have to meet us on an equal footing and treat our concerns seriously.

The FOAG says our industry is “dynamic in nature”, but that is exactly why cabin crew need and deserve clear rules to protect them.

The FOAG says the company’s goal is “to have the safest operation possible, and be ‘best in class’”, and we support that goal, but unfortunately, we’re not sure the company supports us. Our work conditions are not “best in class” – far from it.

Cabin crew at other airlines in Canada have best-in-class working conditions because they joined a union and achieved them through collective bargaining. We can do it too.

If you think you deserve best-in-class working conditions – and if you think the company should respect your rights at work, rather than following the rules only when they feel like it – then it’s time to sign your union card today. Contact an organizer today to sign your card.

Everyone has probably wondered, while they’re grooming an aircraft between flights, and not even getting paid to do it, whether this is the norm at other airlines in Canada.

Well, it isn’t. Porter is pretty “unique” in this sense.

At almost every other airline in Canada, grooming is the responsibility of ground crew. It’s not part of the job description for flight attendants – and certainly not one that flight attendants would be doing for free!

Porter recently announced they would be hiring outside contractors to perform grooming on certain aircraft, and on certain routes only. That’s great news for some Porter cabin crew, but it leaves just as many behind.

It’s just a baby step – one that Porter is only taking because they’re feeling the pressure of your collective effort to form a union.

And remember: there’s nothing to guarantee Porter won’t change this practice in the future because, as we know, without a legally-binding contract, anything Porter gives they can also take away.

With a union and a strong collective agreement, Porter flight attendants can level up with other flight attendants across Canada, and focus on our primary responsibility of keeping passengers safe and comfortable on their journey – not grooming.

With a union, we’ll have the power to give ourselves a greater say in what duties we perform at work, and the power to ensure we’re paid for our time at work.

If you’re ready for a greater say in your working conditions, sign your union card today.

If you’ve already signed your card, that’s awesome. Remember: signing your union card is a two-step process. After signing your membership card, the Canada Industrial Relations Board also requires a $5 payment.

It’s a cruel reality of the industry: some of the toughest and most important parts of a flight attendant’s job aren’t even paid. Whether it’s doing pre-flight safety checks, assisting passengers with special needs, or dealing with unruly passengers during ground delays – there is so much work that flight attendants are forced to do for free because of an unfair, outdated industry practice.

But being a flight attendant isn’t a volunteer position. In Canada, in 2023, there’s no excuse. If a flight attendant is in uniform, at work, performing work-related duties, they should be getting paid. Full stop.

CUPE’s Airline Division, representing 18,500 flight attendants at nine different airlines, has been standing together to tell the federal government and the airlines themselves that unpaid work won’t fly any more.

In fact, flight attendants represented by CUPE at PasCan have already negotiated strong language into their contract so they’re paid for boarding and delays.

CUPE’s Airline Division also launched a formal petition to the House of Commons in June, which received over 17,000 signatures, calling on the federal government to close loopholes in the Canada Labour Code that allow airlines to exploit their employees and force them to work for free. The federal government has until November 5, 2023 to issue its formal response.

The path to ending unpaid work in this industry won’t be an easy one, but it will surely be easier if we all pull together.

If we stand alone as individuals, this unfair, abusive industry practice may never end.

But with CUPE, we’ll be part of a strong group of flight attendant unions, and together we will end unpaid work in our industry.

Sign your card today to join CUPE, Canada’s flight attendant union.

You might have noticed we were briefly absent from the tunnel at YTZ over the past month. The airport authority – wrongfully – tried to prevent our team from talking to Porter cabin crew about our organizing drive and how CUPE has made life better for flight attendants across the industry. But we stood our ground, won the day – and now we’re back!

You might be wondering how can joining a union really change your day-to-day, so today we’re bringing you a “greatest hits” of CUPE’s wins for flight attendants in Canada in recent years. Take a look.

• CUPE set the standard for maximum duty day at 14 hours, with significant monetary premiums hours worked beyond 14. CUPE also set the standard for minimum crew rest home and when away from base.
• CUPE pushed back against restrictive and often discriminatory uniform and grooming policies that forced female members to wear high-heels, and barred members from having dreadlocks or visible tattoos. CUPE also won the right for members to wear henna tattoos and poppies for Remembrance Day on the job.
• At the outset of the pandemic, CUPE health and safety committees fought for and won changes to inflight service and access to proper PPE to keep members safe on the job.
• When the pandemic shook our industry, CUPE ensured thousands of furloughed members were still getting a paycheque – whether through the federal CEWS program, or through agreements to redeploy flight attendants to support immunization clinics. CUPE also ensured members who were sick or quarantined were being paid.

And there’s lots more. As members of Canada’s flight attendant union, Porter cabin crew will have the opportunity to make important changes in the workplace, and change this entire industry for the better.

If you haven’t already signed your card to join your union, go to https://porter.cupe.ca/sign-a-card/.

If there’s anything we’ve learned this past week, it’s that Porter can make changes to our working conditions whenever they want – to make them better, or worse.

By now, you’ve probably seen the news that Porter will be making significant changes to our working conditions.

We’ve already heard serious concerns from many of you about the new 24-hour reserve policy, which could make it very difficult for many of you to manage your work-life balance and hold a second job.

We also know Porter is giving cabin crew in B Scale a nice wage bump. This is great news, and it’s solid proof that our efforts to organize and form a union are already paying off – because there is no chance Porter would be making these kinds of improvements to wages if they weren’t being pressured by our drive for a union.

It also proves that Porter is more than capable of giving its employees a fair wage increase.

But here’s the catch. Without a union (and an enforceable collective agreement), anything Porter gives out today, they can take away tomorrow. That’s just the sad reality.

Employers always float wage increases and new perks when they’re under pressure from union drives, only to claw them back later.

The company is hoping their promise of a wage bump for some employees today will distract from the unfair changes they’re making to the reserve policy and increasing the length of your duty day without a comparable duty premium. WestJet flight attendants, for example, who are represented by CUPE, receive a $200 duty premium for minutes 1-60 beyond a maximum duty period and $400 for minutes 61-120 after that.

Porter talks a lot about how these new changes finally bring the company in line with industry standards. But we don’t want to simply carry on chasing industry standards – we want to set our own, and with a union, we can.

Without a union, Porter can give, but they can also take away.

With a union, Porter won’t be able to make changes to our contract or take away our hard-fought wins arbitrarily. With a union, we’ll have a strong, united voice, and an enforceable contract to protect and advance our working conditions.

Let’s show the company we’re determined to have a voice. If you haven’t already, sign your card today.

And if you have signed your card, encourage your friends and coworkers to sign theirs too!