A potential Canada Day long weekend strike at WestJet has likely been averted.
Updated yesterday at 6:35 p.m.
Christopher Reynolds
The Canadian Press
The federal labor minister has ordered binding arbitration to resolve the dispute between the airline and its mechanics, which will almost certainly delay the work stoppage.
A strike could otherwise have disrupted flights for hundreds of thousands of travelers over the long weekend, according to the airline.
In a social media post Thursday afternoon, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said he was using his powers under the Canada Labour Code to resolve the impasse between the two sides.
According to a government source who requested anonymity to speak more freely, the agreement between the two parties would last two years, allowing the situation to be stabilized during this entire period.
Minister O’Regan’s approach would thus be to allow both parties time to get to know each other, and to build a more fruitful relationship and thus avoid resorting to a special law imposing a return to work for strikers.
The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) issued a 72-hour strike notice Tuesday amid tense negotiations over a first collective agreement between WestJet and some 680 maintenance engineers.
According to our information, this would be the first negotiation initiated in Canada by the AMFA. The latter would be particularly active in the United States.
The AMFA-WestJet negotiating committee reacted immediately to the minister’s decision. It assures on its website that it “will comply with the minister’s order and will order its members to refrain from any illegal means of pressure”.
“AMFA legal counsel and the FMCS representative indicate that there is no modern precedent for the minister’s action,” adds the AMFA-WestJet negotiating committee.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board could choose not to suspend the right to a work stoppage while a collective agreement is being developed, but precedent suggests that this outcome is unlikely.
The Calgary-based carrier had already begun taking action, canceling about 25 flights Thursday and Friday in anticipation of a work stoppage starting Friday at 5:30 p.m. MT.
Union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative deal earlier this month and opposed WestJet’s request to intervene in the country’s labour tribunal.
With the collaboration of Mélanie Marquis, The Press
