Canadian airline WestJet cancels at least 150 flights after surprise strike by mechanics union

A WestJet plane lands at LaGuardia Airport in New York on July 29, 2018. (Photo by Daniel Slim / AFP via Getty Images)

WestJet, Canada’s second-largest airline, said it has cancelled at least 150 flights carrying 20,000 passengers since Saturday after the maintenance workers’ union announced a strike.

The surprise strike, which affects international and domestic flights, takes place over the Canada Day long weekend. WestJet said it was “extremely outraged.” The strike came after the federal government issued a ministerial order for binding arbitration on Thursday, following two weeks of turbulent discussions with the union over a new collective agreement.

In an update to its members, the union’s bargaining committee pointed to a Canada Industrial Relations Board order that does not explicitly prohibit strikes or lockouts during the tribunal’s arbitration process.

A father who lost two sons in a Boeing Max crash is waiting to see if the U.S. will prosecute the company

The families of the 346 people killed in two Boeing 737 Max plane crashes are waiting to hear whether the Justice Department will file charges against the U.S. airline.

In both the October 2018 crash in Indonesia and the March 2019 crash in Ethiopia, software lowered the plane’s nose due to faulty readings from a single sensor. Boeing was able to avoid a trial when prosecutors agreed to a deal that meant a charge of aggravated fraud they had brought could be dropped in three years. Californians Ike and Susan Riffel lost two sons in the Ethiopia crash. Ike Riffel fears the government will give Boeing another chance at probation instead of a trial.