by Donald Wood
Last updated: 8:05 AM ET, Tue August 19, 2025 
Air Canada announced early Tuesday morning that it had
reached an agreement with its flight attendants union to end the first strike
by its cabin crew in 40 years.
According to Reuters.com,
Air Canada will gradually resume flight operations, but a spokesperson for the
carrier revealed that flights will be canceled over the next seven to ten days
until the schedule is stabilized.
Air Canada's unionized flight attendants said mediation was
completed and a tentative agreement has been reached, ending the strike after four
days, which impacted hundreds of thousands of passengers.
“The Strike has ended,” the Canadian Union of Public
Employees (CUPE) said in a Facebook post. “We have a tentative agreement we
will bring forward to you.”
The CUPE went on strike to demand
pay and compensation similar to those offered by United States carriers
that had recently revamped their contracts with flight attendants, including American
Airlines.
Despite the Canada Industrial Relations Board ruling the
strike illegal, the crew members continued their strike in defiance. The two
sides resumed negotiations on Monday and finally reached a deal that was
announced early Tuesday morning.
Details of the deal have not yet been made public, but CUPE is calling the deal a “transformational change for our industry after a historic fight to affirm our Charter rights,” in a statement to the press. The deal will now undergo a ratification process, which includes a vote by union members. The union struck a victorious note in its statement, saying:
“Unpaid work is over.
We have reclaimed our voice and our power.
When our rights were taken away, we stood strong, we fought back — and we secured a tentative agreement that our members can vote on.”
Air Canada’s statement focused on getting passengers back in the sky. “The suspension of our service is extremely difficult for
our customers,” Air Canada CEO and President Michael Rousseau said. “We deeply
regret and apologize for the impact on them of this labor disruption.”
“Our priority now is to get them moving as quickly as
possible,” Rousseau continued. “Restarting a major carrier like Air Canada is a
complex undertaking. Full restoration may require a week or more, so we ask for
our customers' patience and understanding over the coming days.”
“I assure them that everyone at Air Canada is doing
everything possible to enable them to travel soon,” Rousseau concluded.
Passengers are still asked only to go to the airport if they have a confirmed flight, as bringing crews and craft back into position will take some time. Service is expected to take between a week and ten days to come back into full operation.
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