WestJet calls on feds for ‘urgent clarity’ on strike after 800 flight cancellations

A strike by WestJet plane mechanics forced the airline to cancel hundreds more flights on Sunday, canceling the plans of about 110,000 travelers over the long Canada Day weekend and prompting the carrier to call for federal government action.

About 680 workers, whose daily inspections and repairs are critical to airline operations, walked off the job late Friday despite the labor minister’s directive for mandatory arbitration.

“WestJet receives a binding arbitration order and is awaiting urgent clarity from the government that strike action and arbitration cannot exist simultaneously; this is something they have committed to addressing and, like all Canadians, we look forward to it,” said WestJet Airlines President Diederik Pen. a release on Sunday.

As of Thursday, WestJet had canceled 829 scheduled flights between then and Monday — the busiest travel weekend of the season — the carrier said.

The vast majority of Sunday’s trips were canceled as WestJet reduced its fleet of 180 planes to 32 active planes and topped the global list for major airline cancellations over the weekend.

Trevor Temple-Murray was one of thousands of customers scrambling to rebook after their trips were canceled less than a day before.

“We’ll just have to wait,” said the Lethbridge, Alta., resident, who was waiting in the Victoria airport parking lot trying to catch a plane to Calgary, his wife and two-year-old son. next to him in the car.

Their 6:05pm flight had been canceled and they wouldn’t know until the evening if a scheduled 7am flight the next day would go ahead.

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

Nearby, Year 10 exchange student Marina Cebrian said she was due to return home to Spain early on Sunday but now won’t be back with her family until Tuesday after suffering three cancellations from flights.

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

Both WestJet and the Fraternal Association of Aircraft Mechanics accused the other side of refusing to negotiate in good faith.

The airline’s president pointed to what he called the “reckless actions” of a union making “blatant efforts” to disrupt Canadians’ travel plans, while the union said the Calgary-based company refused to respond to its latest counterproposal. In an update to members on Sunday, it said the mechanics were “the victim of WestJet’s virulent PR campaign that you are mockers”, citing “slander” against workers over their right to strike.

The job action comes after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative deal from WestJet in mid-June and after two weeks of tense talks between the two sides.

As the clock ticked down to Friday’s strike deadline, the impasse prompted Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan to step in, ordering the airline and union to undertake binding arbitration led by the country’s labor tribunal.

This process usually bypasses a shutdown. WestJet clearly thought so, saying the union had “confirmed they will abide by the direction”.

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

The mechanics had a different view. The union’s bargaining committee said it would “comply with the minister’s order and direct its members to refrain from any illegal industrial action.” Less than 24 hours later, workers were on the picket lines.

A decision by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board appeared to affirm the legality of their actions, regardless of the protocols surrounding arbitration.

“The college finds that the ministerial notification does not have the effect of suspending the right to strike or lockout,” the court wrote on Friday.

O’Regan said the next day that the board’s ruling was “clearly inconsistent” with the direction he had provided, but later added that he respected the body’s independence. He met with both sides on Saturday night.

“I told them they need to work together with the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to resolve their differences and get their first agreement,” he said in a social media post, appearing to put the onus on the parties.

However, O’Regan has broad authority under the Canada Labor Code. Although his original directive to the tribunal for binding arbitration would have assumed that a strike was not moot because of precedent, the labor minister could take a number of steps to “ensure industrial peace and promote conditions favorable to the settlement of industrial disputes.” the legislation provides.

“For these purposes, the Minister may … direct the board to do such things as the Minister considers necessary.”

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a social media post Sunday that the federal government “can do the right thing by working to end today’s shutdown.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith sent a similar message.

WestJet and AMFA were due to meet on Sunday, the union said.

“It’s uncharted territory. We’re breaking a new precedent here,” Ian Evershed, a mechanic and union representative involved in the talks, said of the simultaneous strike and arbitration.

The union’s goal remains a negotiated settlement rather than an arbitrator — a path it has opposed from the start.

“This process could take months,” he said in a phone interview, noting that a strike puts pressure on the employer. That stance flies in the face of WestJet’s chairman’s reiteration on Sunday that the job action “serves no purpose other than to cause maximum damage. our airline and country.”

In a court filing last week, WestJet lawyers said the union sought “an unreasonable and extortionate result” and deliberately maneuvered to place the strike date at the height of summer travel.

The union says its wage demands would cost WestJet less than $8 million over what the company offered for the first year of the collective bargaining agreement – the first contract between the two sides. It acknowledged that the earnings would exceed compensation for industry peers in Canada and be more on par with American counterparts.

WestJet says it has offered a 12.5 percent pay increase in the first year of the contract and a combined 23 percent pay increase over the remainder of the five-and-a-half-year term.

Meanwhile, travelers continue to get confused.

Sergio Arizmendi, an 11th-grade exchange student from Mexico, said he was booked to fly from Victoria to Phoenix and then drive to his home south of the border, but now plans to take a ferry to Vancouver and then take an Air Canada flight to Arizona, returning to his family two days late.

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

Not everyone was upset about the weekend’s labor turmoil.

“We’re seeing a huge increase in bookings, probably due to passengers scrambling to save their long weekends,” Flair Airlines spokeswoman Kim Bowie said.

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

Christopher Reynolds and Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press