At YVR, about 20 WestJet employees held a protest outside the airport’s international arrivals area on Saturday.
Passengers departing Vancouver International Airport on Saturday faced picket lines, long lines, delays and canceled flights following a strike by unionized WestJet mechanics.
The last-minute strike forced the company to cancel more than 150 flights on Friday and 235 on Saturday, stranding tens of thousands of passengers over the busy Canada Day long weekend. Severe travel disruptions are expected at airports across the country.
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At YVR, about 20 WestJet employees held a protest outside the airport’s international arrivals area on Saturday.
One of the picketers, Mark Rudge, chairman of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association strike committee, apologised to travellers for the delays and cancellations and said they had not wanted to strike on a busy weekend but had no other choice.
“We wanted to close this deal many weeks ago, but we were absolutely blocked by management and in most cases they didn’t even want to talk to us and answer our calls,” he said on Saturday.
Alyssa Smith, a spokeswoman for YVR, said about 335,000 travellers were expected this weekend, with the daily average at 84,000. Passengers were advised to check the latest information with WestJet, allow extra time at the airport and report to YVR’s information desk for assistance.
The union announced that its members walked off the job at around 4:30 p.m. on Friday because the airline’s “lack of willingness to negotiate with the union made the strike inevitable.”
The move came after the federal government issued a ministerial decree on Thursday for binding arbitration following two weeks of turbulent negotiations with the union over a new agreement.
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WestJet executives said at a press conference in Calgary that 235 flights had already been cancelled by midday Saturday, affecting 33,000 passengers. If the strike is not resolved, another 150 flights could be cancelled by the end of the day.
WestJet Airlines President Diederik Pen described the strike as “devastating” for passengers and the airline.
“We are outraged and I want to assure you that we are doing everything in our power to resolve this,” Pen said.
Many people took to social media to vent their frustration over canceled vacation plans, while others said it was pointless trying to reach WestJet staff by phone. One traveler who called D. Rose on X said his trip was canceled as he was unloading his luggage at the airport, writing, “You ruined our family vacation.” Another person, Jeremy Berger, wrote on social media that he was on hold at WestJet for 12 hours before the connection was cut off.
Rudge said the company must come to the negotiating table and negotiate in good faith.
“We have sat down with them several times and they have taken a tough stance. Their offers have been subpar at best. The union is simply no longer willing to present this to its members,” he said.
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He added that he was “appalled and shocked” that a federal minister was interfering in a private matter.
“We are not essential workers here,” he said. “We are bringing people to Mexico, but this is not an essential service.”
While he acknowledged that the Canada Day long weekend was “a terrible time,” he said the problem should have been resolved weeks ago.
Rudge said there needed to be a compensation package that would attract people to the company as there was a shortage of staff.
“We’re seeing people quit en masse. We’re letting people retire early. I’m one of the oldest here now, and I shouldn’t be at my age. So the amount of work is shocking, and it’s about safety. You can’t have an understaffed maintenance department taking care of a highly technical and sophisticated aircraft,” he said.
According to WestJet, workers under the proposed agreement would have received the best pay in the country, with a 12.5 percent pay increase in the first year of the agreement and a cumulative pay increase of 23 percent over the term of the agreement.
The company says its aircraft mechanics earn an average of $109,000, with top earners making between $150,000 and $170,000.
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According to Gábor Lukács, a Canadian air passenger rights lawyer and president of Air Passenger Rights, WestJet must offer its passengers the choice between a free rebooking on the next available flight of any airline, including competing airlines, or a refund in the original form of payment and within 30 days.
If the flight is outside Canada, passengers may be entitled to additional compensation for expenses such as meals, hotels and loss of earnings, depending on the origin and destination.
Lukács recommends that people record their own interactions with WestJet. Evidence of WestJet actions and inactions, including refusal to offer compensation or rebooking, could prove crucial evidence in pursuing compensation claims, he said.
Pen said WestJet would comply with regulations and refund passengers while offering those stranded overnight hotel accommodation. Beyond that, the airline was “unable to provide additional compensation,” he said.
This is not the first time that labour unrest at WestJet has affected holiday weekend travel plans. The airline managed to avert a strike in the early hours of the May long weekend last year, but then cancelled over 230 flights and forced thousands of people to change their travel plans.
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With files from The Canadian Press
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