Flight attendants in Canada have launched an “Unpaid Work Won’t Fly” campaign, which they say is a "national effort to end the widespread abuse of unpaid work in the airline sector that sees the average flight attendant in Canada work 35 hours every month for free".
Backed by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the initiative aims to let passengers know that flight attendants do jobs for which they are not paid, including pre-flight safety checks and assisting with boarding.
“It’s a dirty secret in this industry and one that we’re determined to expose and end for good," said Wesley Lesosky, a flight attendant with CUPE 4094 and president of the CUPE Airline Division.
The campaign will build toward an April 25 "National Day of Action to End Unpaid Work", with events to be held in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal.
“If we’re at work, in uniform, doing our jobs and taking responsibility for our passengers, we should be getting paid – simple as that,” Lesosky added.