Most Canadians say AC flight attendants deserve full ground pay: Poll

A new Angus Reid poll finds Air Canada’s reputation is suffering during a battle between the company and unionized flight attendants.

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The flight attendants issued a Saturday strike warning amid a labour dispute that revolves around whether in-flight service crews should be compensated for work they do before their flights push back from the gate.

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Air Canada is offering flight attendants half of their hourly rates to do this work; the union is demanding their full hourly amount.

A new survey finds three-in-five, or 59%, say Air Canada providing full hourly wages for all aspects of the flight attendants’ work is most important to them, while 41% say keeping airfares low should be the priority.

However, more frequent fliers — those who fly three times or more in the last year — are evenly split with 51% siding with flights attendants’ demands, and the other half more focused on not seeing the increased costs of such compensation passed along to them.

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The survey found 34% say they don’t want to see airfare increases, even if it means boosting flight attendants’ compensation, while 29% would accept a price increase of less than five per cent on their ticket.

The poll says 14% say they would pay 5% or more if it meant flight attendants were paid as soon as they clocked in for their shifts while 74% support federal legislation to require airlines to pay employees when they report for their shift as scheduled with 84% describing the current conditions as “unfair.”

The survey says half of those polled say this conflict has damaged their own opinions of Air Canada with one-in-five saying their views of the company have “worsened a lot” as a result of the conflict and uncertainty.

The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from Aug. 14-15 with 1,507 Canadian adults and a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- 2.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.