Agreement reached in WestJet strike, but travel disruptions expected to continue for Canadian airline

TORONTO – Canada’s second-largest airline, WestJet, has reached an agreement with its mechanics to end a strike that disrupted the travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers over the Canada Day long weekend.

WestJet said late Sunday that there would be flight disruptions next week as its aircraft returned to service.

In its own press release, the Airplane Mechanics Fraternal Association called on its members to immediately return to work until the preliminary agreement is voted on.

Around 680 employees, whose daily inspections and repairs are essential for the airline’s operations, went on strike on Friday evening despite an order from the Minister of Labor for a binding arbitration procedure.

Since Thursday, WestJet has cancelled 829 flights scheduled between Thursday and Monday on Canada’s busiest travel weekend of the season.

The vast majority of Sunday’s flights were cancelled as WestJet reduced its fleet from 180 aircraft to 32 active planes, topping the list of cancellations among major airlines worldwide over the weekend.

“The damage to Canadians and our airline is enormous, and a swift resolution was necessary. We are not taking victory laps on this outcome, but we will sleep better tonight knowing that further damage was prevented,” Diederik Pen, WestJet Airlines president and group chief operating officer, said in a statement.

“We will not see any further industrial action as a result of this dispute as both parties have agreed to submit the contract to arbitration in the event of failed ratification.”

Details of the agreement were not immediately available.

The union had previously said its wage demands would cost WestJet less than 8 million Canadian dollars ($5.6 million U.S.) on top of what the company offered for the first year of the collective agreement – the first contract between the two sides. It has acknowledged that the gains would exceed compensation for industry peers across Canada and be more in line with U.S. counterparts.

WestJet had announced that it would offer a 12.5% ​​pay increase in the first year of the contract and a cumulative pay increase of 23.5% for the remainder of the 5.5-year term.