MONTREAL - The head of the union representing flight attendants at Air Canada is hopeful the federal government won't intervene in the escalating labour dispute between the two sides.

Jeff Taylor, president of the Air Canada component of CUPE, wants the government to respect the union's right to collective bargaining.

"We're hoping that the government will respect our democratic right for collective bargaining and not take the side of the CEOs and the companies against their employees," Taylor said in an interview.

"If they let that process work then hopefully we can get a good deal, but it's very hard to say with the current climate within government right now."

The Conservatives were on the verge of legislating striking customer service staff back to work earlier this summer.

The customer service agents hastily reached a new contract with the airline in June before the government lowered its legislative hammer.

The government forced postal workers back on the job in June.

Air Canada's flight attendants announced Saturday they had overwhelmingly rejected a tentative agreement reached with the airline this month.

The union said that 87.8 per cent of those who voted gave the tentative agreement a thumbs down, with 78.6 per cent of its roughly 6,800 members casting a vote.

Air Canada, which issued a short statement Saturday acknowledging the rejection, declined to comment Sunday.

CUPE is organizing a strike vote for next month and intends to talk to management about restarting negotiations.

Taylor said morale is low amongst flight attendants as the labour dispute continues.

"I can honestly say they are pretty unhappy, and a bit angry," he said.

"The members have been making concessions and sacrifices for over ten years to make Air Canada financially viable and they just clearly feel that their sacrifices haven't been acknowledged."

The airline has faced a number of labour troubles this year as it seeks to cut costs.

In addition to the disputes with its customer service agents and flight attendants, Air Canada pilots rejected an agreement earlier this year and have yet to reach a deal.

The airline is also negotiating with mechanics and baggage handlers.

A major issue in negotiations with all of the unions is over pensions.

The unions say the airline wants to establish a defined contribution pension plan for new hires, instead of the current defined benefit plan.

With defined contribution plans, the company's contribution is limited to a set, negotiated amount.

Payouts to retirees depend on the performance of the underlying investments. Defined benefit plans require a set amount to be paid to retirees.

Air Canada says high fuel costs are threatening its future profitability and it said this month it would raise fares and try to trim costs where possible to offset that.

The airline posted a $46 million loss in the spring quarter ended June 30 due to the cost of fuel.

But that was a big improvement over last year, when the losses were far greater.

Canada's largest airline and its regional partners carry about 31 million passengers annually to more than 170 destinations on five continents.