WestJet demands ‘urgent clarity’ from government on strike after 800 flights cancelled

A strike by WestJet aircraft mechanics forced the airline to cancel hundreds more flights on Sunday, disrupting the plans of around 110,000 travellers over the Canada Day long weekend. The airline then called for action from the federal government.

About 680 workers, whose daily inspections and repairs are essential to the airline’s operations, walked off work on Friday evening despite an order from the labor minister for binding arbitration.

“WestJet has received a binding arbitration award and is urgently awaiting clarification from the government that a strike and arbitration cannot occur simultaneously. They are committed to clarifying this and like all Canadians, we are waiting,” Diederik Pen, president of WestJet Airlines, said in a press release on Sunday.

Since Thursday, WestJet has canceled 829 flights that were scheduled between Thursday and Monday – the busiest travel weekend of the season, the airline said.

The vast majority of flights on Sunday 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.

Trevor Temple-Murray was one of thousands of customers who rushed to rebook their trips after they were cancelled less than a day before.

“We just have to wait and see,” said the Lethbridge, Alabama, resident, who was waiting in line in the parking lot of Victoria Airport, trying to get a flight to Calgary. His wife and two-year-old son were sitting next to him in the car.

Their 6:05 p.m. flight had been cancelled and they would not find out until that evening whether the flight scheduled for the next day at 7:00 a.m. would take place.

“There are a lot of angry people there,” said Temple-Murray, pointing to the terminal.

Nearby, 10th-grade exchange student Marina Cebrian said she was supposed to be back home in Spain early Sunday, but after three flight cancellations, she will not return to her family until Tuesday.

“It’s disturbing,” she said. “I was supposed to be home today, about seven hours ago, but I’m not.”

The story goes on

Both WestJet and the Airplane Mechanics Fraternal Association accused the other side of refusing to negotiate seriously.

The airline’s president has stressed that the union “continues to act recklessly” because of its “blatant efforts” to disrupt Canadians’ travel plans. The association claimed the Calgary-based company refused to respond to the latest counterproposal. In an update to members on Sunday, it said the mechanics were “victims of WestJet’s vicious PR campaign that they are lawbreakers.” The union spoke of “vilification” of the workers related to their right to strike.

The industrial action came after union members overwhelmingly voted against a tentative collective agreement with WestJet in mid-June and two weeks of tense talks between the two parties.

As the clock counted down to the strike ending on Friday, the impasse prompted Employment Minister Seamus O’Regan to intervene, ordering the airline and union to undergo binding arbitration in the country’s employment tribunal.

This procedure is usually used to circumvent a work stoppage. WestJet apparently agreed, saying the union had “confirmed that it will comply with the order.”

“In this context, there will be no strike or lockout and the airline will no longer cancel flights,” the airline said on Thursday.

The mechanics disagreed. The union’s negotiating committee said it would “follow the Minister’s instructions and instruct its members to refrain from any unlawful industrial action.” Less than 24 hours later, the workers were on the picket line.

A decision by the Canada Industrial Relations Board appeared to confirm the legality of their actions, regardless of the mediation protocols.

“The board is of the opinion that referring the matter to the ministry does not result in a suspension of the right to strike or lockout,” the court wrote on Friday.

O’Regan said the next day that the panel’s decision was “clearly inconsistent” with his instruction, but later added that he respected the panel’s independence. He met with both sides on Saturday evening.

“I told them they need to work with the Canada Industrial Relations Board to resolve their differences and get their first agreement underway,” he said in a social media post, appearing to shift the blame to the parties.

However, O’Regan has broad powers under Canada’s Labour Code. Although his original direction to the tribunal for binding arbitration may have assumed that a strike would not be an option due to precedent, the labour minister could take a number of steps to “secure industrial peace and create favourable conditions for the resolution of labour disputes,” the legislation states.

“For this purpose, the Minister may … instruct the Board to take such measures as he considers necessary.”

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a social media post on Sunday that the federal government could “do the right thing by stepping in today and ending the work stoppage.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith issued a similar message.

According to the union, a meeting between WestJet and AMFA is planned for Sunday.

“This is uncharted territory. We are setting a new precedent here,” said Ian Evershed, a mechanic and union representative involved in the talks, about the simultaneous strike and arbitration.

The union’s goal remains a negotiated deal rather than an arbitrator – a path it has rejected from the start.

“This process could take months,” he said in a telephone interview, stressing that a strike would put pressure on the employer. This stance contradicts the WestJet president’s statement, repeated on Sunday, that the industrial action “has no other purpose than to cause maximum damage to our airline and the country.”

In a statement to the court last week, WestJet’s lawyers said the union had sought “an unreasonable and extortionate result” and had deliberately scheduled the strike date at the height of the summer travel season.

The union says its wage demands would cost WestJet less than $8 million 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 said it offered a 12.5 percent pay increase in the first year of the contract and a cumulative 23 percent pay increase for the remainder of the five-and-a-half-year term.

Meanwhile, travelers continue to panic.

Sergio Arizmendi, a Grade 11 exchange student from Mexico, said he had booked a flight from Victoria to Phoenix and was driving from there to his home south of the border, but now plans to take a ferry to Vancouver and catch an Air Canada flight to Arizona to return to his family two days late.

“My parents argued with the airline,” said Arizimendi, who was carrying three large suitcases and a backpack.

Not everyone was upset about the turbulence on the labor market over the weekend.

“We are seeing a huge increase in bookings, presumably because passengers are desperate to secure their long weekend,” said Flair Airlines spokeswoman Kim Bowie.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2024.

Christopher Reynolds and Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press