Air Transat’s 1,500 flight attendants have voted to approve a strike mandate, after overwhelmingly rejecting the company’s latest contract offer, the union said in a news release Thursday evening.
CUPE, the union representing the flight attendants, said 93 per cent of members in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto voted to support the strike action. The vote means that flight attendants can strike any time after July 19.
However, the union said that it hopes to negotiate an agreement and avoid a labour dispute. New bargaining sessions are scheduled to take place next week.
The union cited pensions and shift length as key issues in the dispute.
"Air Transat has continued to ask for cuts that simply are not justified by its financial situation. We certainly do not want to disrupt the operations of the company this summer and we are focused on negotiating a settlement as quickly as possible. At the same time, Air Transat needs to recognize the fair value of its flight attendants," said Nathalie Stringer, president of the Air Transat Component of CUPE, said in the release.
CUPE said the flight attendants have been without a contract since November 2010.
The vote came as Air Canada and the union representing its service staff reached a tentative agreement to end a three-day walkout on Thursday.
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