Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said airlines must pay flight attendants for every minute they are on the job during a WestJet labor dispute.

The dispute highlights a systemic conflict over "duty time" versus "pay time," where workers are often unpaid while performing essential pre-flight and post-flight tasks.

Flight attendants have reported that an average of 35 hours per month go unpaid [1] under the current policy at WestJet. These unpaid periods typically occur when staff are at the airport before or after their scheduled flight duties. Poilievre said this practice is unfair to the employees.

"This isn't a vacation for them…airlines should be paying their flight attendants from the time they show up to work to the time they leave," Poilievre said [2].

The labor tension escalated on Friday as flight attendants issued a 72-hour strike notice [2]. WestJet responded by issuing its own 72-hour lockout notice [2]. The simultaneous notices place the airline in a precarious position as both sides prepare for a potential work stoppage.

Flight attendants maintain that the time spent navigating terminals, conducting security checks, and preparing cabins is active work. They argue that the current compensation model ignores the reality of airport operations, effectively requiring hours of free labor each month.

Poilievre's intervention frames the issue as a matter of fundamental fairness for workers. He said that the industry standard of only paying for "block time" — the time from when an aircraft pushes back from the gate to when it arrives at the destination — is outdated and exploitative.

“Airlines should be paying their flight attendants from the time they show up to work to the time they leave.”

This dispute underscores a broader labor trend in the aviation industry where workers are challenging the traditional 'block hour' payment model. By aligning himself with the flight attendants, Poilievre is leveraging a high-visibility labor conflict to champion worker rights and fair compensation, potentially putting pressure on other Canadian carriers to revise their pay structures to avoid similar disruptions.