The President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Opposes the Visible Exploitation of Workers but Does Not Oppose the Hidden Exploitation of Workers: The Case of the Striking Air Canada Flight Attendants

Introduction

Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress (the largest national federation of unions in Canada representing more than 3 million workers), has recently criticized the open exploitation of flight attendants, who work for free when they greet and help passengers board the plane, instruct passengers on safety procedures (such as the use of oxygen masks, etc.), aiding passengers to disembark, etc. She has written: 

Did you know that Air Canada flight attendants are only paid when the plane is moving? Safety checks, helping passengers board the plane, and medical emergencies add up to 35 hours of unpaid work every month.

Right now, more than 10,000 CUPE members are fighting back. With a 99.7% strike vote, they’re united in demanding fair pay for every hour worked, but Air Canada also needs to hear from customers and the public who depend on these flight attendants.

A strong show of solidarity will strengthen these workers’ position at the bargaining table – and force Air Canada to take action on unpaid work.

Flight attendants could go on strike as soon as tomorrow. Send a letter to Air Canada now and urge them to end unpaid work and give these workers a fair deal.

SEND A LETTER

This isn’t just about flight attendants. It’s about confronting corporate greed and defending every worker’s right to be paid for their work. Across Canada, union members are standing up against wage theft and winning. Let’s help these workers win too.

Take one minute to send a letter now: https://unfaircanada.com

Unpaid work won’t fly.

In solidarity,

– Bea

Bea Bruske (she/her)
President
Canadian Labour Congress
Workers Together: For a better future

Such a situation should indeed be opposed. Many airlines (as employers), such as Air Canada, refuse to pay flight attendants until the plane is in motion and after it has landed. In effect, flight attendants work without compensation for this part of the lives. 

However, this is the visible aspect of the exploitation of of flight attendants (although it has indeed been necessary for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) to make it a public issue). Neither CUPE nor the CLC make the invisible exploitation of flight attendants (and other airline and airport workers) an issue. 

The Invisible Exploitation of Air Canada Workers (Including Flight Attendants)

Flight attendants for Air Canada not only work for free during the times specified above, but even when the airplane is in motion they work for free and produce the profit (a surplus of value) for Air Canada–but they do not realize it.

Radical leftists should enable such workers (and workers for other employers) to realize that they are exploited while they work for a particular employer. 

Thus, some years ago, I calculated the rate of exploitation of Air Canada workers (the extent to which such workers produce a profit relative to their own wages. I will include the whole post as an appendix below. 

I want, however, to point out that Bruske’s assertion that flight attendants work approximately 35 hours per month for free needs to be supplemented by the amount of hours that they work for free while they are working. 

In my post on the rate of exploitation, I calculated the rate of exploitation to be 70%, which means the following (drawn from my earlier post on the rate of exploitation of Air Canada workers: 

For every hour worked that produces her/his wage, a worker at Air Canada works around an additional 42 minutes for free for Air Canada.

In a 6-hour work day, the worker produces her/his wage in about 3.5 hours and works 2.5 hours for free for Air Canada. Of course, during the time that the worker produces her/his own wage, s/he is subject to the power of management and hence is  also unfree (see, for instance, Management Rights, Part Four: Private Sector Collective Agreement, Ontario and Employers as Dictators, Part One).

In an 8-hour work day, the worker produces her/his wage in about 5 hours 36 minutes and works for 2 hours and 24 minutes free for Air Canada.

In a 12-hour day, the worker produces her/his wage in about 8 hours 24 minutes and works for free for 3 hours 36 minutes for Air Canada.

Now, I asked artificial intelligence (ChatGpt) how many hours for free an Air Canada worker works if the rate of exploitation is 70%. I will provide a short answer for those who want conclusions first, followed by a more detailed answer.

Total Visible and Invisible Exploitation of Air Canada Flight Attendants 

Air Canada workers (including flight attendants) work between around 31 and 33 hours for free per month (invisible exploitation which CUPE and the CLC do not acknolwedge (and, of course, neither does Air Canada) in addition to the 35 hours of visible exploitation (which both CUPE and the CLC acknowledge), making a total of between 66 and 68 hours worked for free every month. 

Detailed Answer

Here is the answer: 

What’s “given”

• Unpaid “ground/boarding/safety” time ≈ 35 hours/month for Air Canada flight attendants. Reutersnslabour.ca

• Typical paid “block” (plane-moving) hours for flight attendants are about 75–80 hours/month at many carriers (varies by airline). flightattendant.proEndeavor AirHorizon AFA

1) “How many hours a month would flight attendants work?”

Let $P$ = paid flight (block) hours/month.
Total hours worked = $P+35$.

Using the common range:

• If $P=75$: total ≈ 110 hours/month.

• If $P=80$: total ≈ 115 hours/month.

(That 35h figure is specific to Canada/Air Canada context; the 75–80h is a general industry range.) Reutersnslabour.caflightattendant.pro

2) With a Marxian rate of exploitation of 70%, how many hours are “for free”?

In Marx’s terms, the rate of exploitation $e=s/v$ (surplus/necessary labour).
Within the paid hours $P$, the surplus-labour share is e1+e\frac{e}{1+e}1+ee​ of $P$.

With $e=0.7$: e1+e=0.71.7≈0.4118\frac{e}{1+e}=\frac{0.7}{1.7}\approx 0.41181+ee​=1.70.7​≈0.4118.

So surplus (unpaid) hours embedded in the paid hours = $0.4118\times P$.

Then there are also the extra 35 unpaid hours (boarding/safety/etc.). Depending on how strictly you want to stick to Marx’s categories, you can report either:

• A. Strictly within paid working time (Marx’s decomposition):
  Surplus hours/month = $0.4118\times P$.
  • If $P=75$: ≈ 30.9 h
  • If $P=80$: ≈ 32.9 h

• B. Broader “worked for free” (surplus within paid hours + the additional uncompensated 35h):
  Total free hours = $0.4118P+35$.
  • If $P=75$: ≈ 65.9 h (30.9 + 35)
  • If $P=80$: ≈ 67.9 h (32.9 + 35)

3) Quick summary table

Assumption about paid hours $P$	Total hours worked (P + 35)	“Free” hours (Marx-only, within P)	“Free” hours (Marx + extra 35h)
75 h	110 h	30.9 h	65.9 h
80 h	115 h	32.9 h	67.9 h

Air Canada workers (including flight attendants) work between around 31 and 33 hours for free per month (invisible exploitation which CUPE and the CLC do not acknolwedge (and, of course, neither does Air Canada) in addition to the 35 hours of visible exploitation (which both CUPE and the CLC acknowledge), making a total of between 66 and 68 hours worked for free every month. 

Why do I say that CUPE (and the CLC) do not acknowledge the invisible exploitation? CUPE often refers to “fair wages” (see Fair Wages: Another Example of the Ideological Rhetoric of Canadian Unions, Part Three: The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)  ; I will post data in another post in the future showing that the CLC also often refers to “fair wages” )–and it would not do so if it considered that workers were systematically and necessarily exploited. Air Canada workers produce the profit of Air Canada–which is then used to further exploit Air Canada workers; there is no such thing as fair wages in such a situation. 

Conclusion

Bea Bruske, president of the CLC, like so many union reps and social democrats or social reformers, opposes situations that contradict the principle that workers are to paid for the time they work for an employer. She shows no concern for the principle that workers are exploited even when they are working–provided they receive a “fair wage”–whatever that is. 

Radical leftists should support the flight attendants fight to obtain wages linked to the time they actually work, but they should also link such wages to the free time workers necessarily supply to such employers as Air Canada. In other words, they should link such wages to the exploitation of such workers. 

Appendix

The Rate of Exploitation of Workers at Air Canada, One of the Largest Private Employers in Canada

The following applies to Air Canada workers before the COVID-19. The situation undoubtedly has changed since then since the airline industry has suffered disproportionately an economic crisis relative to some other industries (such as food production).

In another post, I presented the twenty largest employers in Canada according to level of profit (see A Short List of the Largest Private Employers in Canada, According to Profit). One of those employers is Air Canada, a privatized airline company (that used to be under public ownership).

I have tried to calculate the rate of exploitation of workers of Magna International in an earlier post (see The Rate of Exploitation of Workers at Magna International Inc., One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Part One); Magna International is one of the largest employers in Toronto.

I decided to look at the annual report of some of the largest private companies in Toronto and Canada if they are available in order to calculate the rate of exploitation at a more micro level than aggregate rates of surplus value at the national or international level. Politically, this is necessary since social democrats here in Toronto (and undoubtedly elsewhere) vaguely may refer to exploitation–while simultaneously and contradictorily referring to “decent work” and “fair contracts.” Calculating even approximately the rate of exploitation at a more micro level thus has political relevance.

Conclusions First

I am going to begin with a conclusion, and then explain what it means and how it is calculated so that the reader understands where I am headed in the calculations:

For every hour worked that produces her/his wage, a worker at Air Canada works around an additional 42 minutes for free for Air Canada.

In a 6-hour work day, the worker produces her/his wage in about 3.5 hours and works 2.5 hours for free for Air Canada. Of course, during the time that the worker produces her/his own wage, s/he is subject to the power of management and hence is  also unfree (see, for instance, Management Rights, Part Four: Private Sector Collective Agreement, Ontario and Employers as Dictators, Part One).

In an 8-hour work day, the worker produces her/his wage in about 5 hours 36 minutes and works for 2 hours and 24 minutes free for Air Canada.

In a 12-hour day, the worker produces her/his wage in about 8 hours 24 minutes and works for free for 3 hours 36 minutes for Air Canada.

Of course, social democrats refer to this situation, in one way or another, as “fair.” They do so by using such terms as “fair contract,” “free collective bargaining,” “fairness,” “economic justice,” “good contract,” “decent work,” “companies paying their fair share of taxes” and similar rhetoric. Such rhetoric, rather than enlightening workers about their situation, actually hide it. The working class deserves better than this ideology.

The Nature of the Rate of Exploitation

But what is the rate of exploitation? And why not use the usual rate of profit or the rate of return? The rate of profit is calculated as profit divided by investment. Since employers purchase both the means for work–buildings, computers, office supplies, raw material–and hire workers–we can classify investment into two categories: c, meaning constant capital, or the capital invested in commodities other than workers; and v, or variable capital, the capital invested in the hiring of workers for a certain period of time (wages, salaries and benefits).

The purpose of investment in a capitalist economy is to obtain more money (see The Money Circuit of Capital), and the additional money is surplus value when it is related to its source: workers working for more time than what they cost to produce themselves. The relation between surplus value and variable capital (or wages and salaries) is the rate of surplus value or the rate of exploitation, expressed as a ratio: s/v.

When the surplus is related to both c and v and expressed as a ratio, it is the rate of profit: s/(c+v).

In Marxian economics, you cannot simply use the economic classifications provided by employers and governments since such classifications often hide the nature of the social world in which we live. The rate of profit underestimates the rate of exploitation since the surplus value is related to total investment and not just to the workers. Furthermore, it makes the surplus value appear to derive from both constant capital and variable capital.

How I Calculated the Rate of Exploitation of Air Canada Workers

I calculated the conclusion as follows:

The income statement is broken into the following categories for 2019 (in millions of Canadian  dollars) :

Total revenue: $19,131
Total operating expenses: $17,481

Wages, salaries and benefits: $3,184
Aircraft fuel: $3,862
Regional airlines expense:

Aircraft fuel: $485
Other: $1,95

Depreciation and amortization: $1,986

Aircraft maintenance: $1,004

Airport and navigation fees: $990

Sales and distribution costs: $874

Ground package costs: $627

Catering and onboard services: $445

Communications and information technology: $397

Other: $1,671

Operating income: $1,650
Non-operating income (expense) [if it is income according to standard accounting practices, it has no parentheses; if it is an expense, it is within parentheses and needs to be subtracted–but see below): $125

Foreign exchange gain (loss): $499
Interest income: $164
Interest expense: ($515)
Interest capitalized: $35
Net financing expense relating to employee benefits: ($39)
Gain (loss) on financial instruments recorded at fair value: $23
Gain on debt settlements and modifications: $6
Gain (loss) on disposal of assets: $13
Other: ($61)

Income before income taxes: $1,775 (adding operating income and non-operating income (expense) together)

Some explanation of “interest capitalized” is in order. I have had difficulty in understanding the nature of “Interest capitalized.” As far as I can tell, interest that is normally paid and is an expense for the particular employer is treated, in Marxian economics, as part of surplus value because, at the macro level, it comes from the surplus value produced by the workers. Interest capitalized seems to be different since the interest charged on money borrowed for the purpose of the construction of fixed assets (with a specific interest rate attached to it) is “capitalized,” or not considered part of interest expenses until the construction is finished and the fixed asset is ready to use. This accounting distinction, however, from the macro point of view, is irrelevant since both interest expenses and interest capitalized are derived from the surplus value produced by workers (or appropriated from them in another industry). Accordingly, both interest expenses and interest capitalized should be added to the amount of “Income before income taxes” category.

The adjusted “Income before income taxes” therefore is: ($1775 +$515)=$2,290 (interest capitalization has already been added to income so there is no need to add it here).

Another necessary adjustment relates to the category and amount “Net financing expense relating to employee benefits: ($39)”. Pension-related expenses should probably form part of wages and hence should be shifted to “operating expenses.” This shift does not change the surplus value produced nor the “Income before income taxes” category; it just changes the distribution of expenses, from “Non-operating income (expense) to “Total operating expenses” by way of increasing the category “Wages, salaries and benefits” by $39; the category “Wages, salaries and benefits” are therefore $3,223.

The final calculations with adjustments before determining the rate of surplus value are:

Total revenue: $19,131
Total operating expenses: $17,520
Operating income: $1611
Non-operating income: $640
Income before income taxes: $2251

To calculate the rate of surplus value, we need to relate “Income before income taxes” to “Wages, salaries and benefits.” So, with the adjustments in place:, s=2251; v=3223. The rate of exploitation or the rate of surplus value=s/v=2251/3223=70%.

That means that for every hour worked that produces her/his wage, a worker at Air Canada works around an additional 42 minutes for free for Air Canada.

In a 6-hour work day, the worker produces her/his wage in about 3.5 hours and works 2.5 hours for free for Air Canada. Of course, during the time that the worker produces her/his own wage, s/he is subject to the power of management and hence is unfree (see, for instance, Management Rights, Part Four: Private Sector Collective Agreement, Ontario  and   Employers as Dictators, Part One).

In an 8-hour work day, the worker produces her/his wage in about 5 hours 36 minutes and works for 2 hours and 24 minutes free for Air Canada.

In a 12-hour day, the worker produces her/his wage in about 8 hours 24 minutes and works for free for 3 hours 36 minutes for Air Canada.

I have used the lengths of the working day as 6, 8 and 12 because the length of the working day varies. According to one source:

As a customer service agent, you ll work from 3:00 am, 4:00 am and 5:00 am morning shifts, or 11:00 am, 12:00 pm, 2:00 pm. Afternoon shifts. Not sure about night shifts as I never work any of them. Part time is 6 hrs per day and full time can be 8-16 hrs. per day. You can exchange shifts, give away shifts, trade, pick or even parcial shifts. That part helps a lot when you need a day or 2 off.

Social-Democratic Rhetoric Neglects the Wider Context that Reveals the Exploitation of Workers

Of course, social democrats refer to this situation, in one way or another, as “fair.” They do so by using such terms as “fair contract,” “free collective bargaining,” “fairness,” “economic justice,” “good contract,” “decent work,” “companies paying their fair share of taxes” and similar rhetoric. Such rhetoric, rather than enlightening workers about their situation, actually hides it. The working class deserves better than this ideology.

By neglecting the fact of exploitation, other social democrats draw incorrect political conclusions. Thus, there are social democrats who try to claim that we need to reform the police rather than abolish it (see, for example, Reform versus Abolition of Police, Part Two) because workers have property. Some workers in the more developed capitalist countries do indeed have property (and fewer, of course, in the less developed capitalist countries), but they obtain that property by being exploited in the first place. If they understood that, would they support the police, whose main function is to protect the power of the employer to exploit them (and, only secondarily, to protect them and their own property)?

If the above calculations can be improved in any way, please comment on the above. I have been unable to find many guideposts about how to calculate the rate of exploitation or the rate of surplus value at the level of particular companies.