Air Canada flight attendants vote against agreement reached last month, but operations to continue

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TORONTO (AP) — About 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants have voted down the employer’s wage offer that the union and airline agreed to last month but another walkout is not expected.

Flight attendants at Air Canada wrapped up voting Saturday on a tentative new contract, with 99.1% voting down the airline’s wage offer.

The airline says the wage portion will now be referred to mediation as previously agreed to by both sides.

“Air Canada and CUPE contemplated this potential outcome and mutually agreed that if the tentative agreement was not ratified, the wage portion would be referred to mediation and, if no agreement was reached at that stage, to arbitration,” the airline said in a statement.

“The parties also agreed that no labor disruption could be initiated, and therefore there will be no strike or lock-out, and flights will continue to operate.”

The Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees says most terms would still form part of a new collective agreement with the airline, with the exception of the wage issue.

Air Canada restarted operations on Aug. 19 after reaching an agreement with the union for 10,000 flight attendants to end a strike that disrupted the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of travelers. The walkout impacted about 130,000 travelers a day at the peak of the summer travel season.