moved for leave to introduce Bill C-415, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (flight attendants).
Mr. Speaker, I am introducing a bill to stop the exploitation of Canada's flight attendants. I want to thank the member for Hamilton Centre for seconding it.
Flight attendants have been exploited since the commercial aviation industry was launched because they were women. The exploitation continues today as billion-dollar airline companies profit off the backs of unpaid work. Successive Liberal and Conservative governments have let this happen.
Today, flight attendants who work in a federally regulated industry are expected to work for free up to 35 hours per month. This must end, and it can end with the adoption of this NDP bill. It would ensure that for every hour worked, flight attendants are paid their full wage, and that a long-standing discriminatory practice is rectified.
I thank the Canadian Union of Public Employees, whose workers took a stand with a very successful campaign called “Unpaid Work Won't Fly”. It has been an honour to work alongside them on this important legislation.
I call on the Liberal government to do what is right, adopt my bill as its own and take immediate action to make sure that unpaid work will not fly.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)