The Canadian airline WestJet announced the cancellation of 77% of its flights on Sunday due to a strike by its mechanics.
In total, Canada’s second largest carrier said 832 flights have been canceled since the company anticipated the strike on Thursday, affecting nearly 100,000 travelers across the country and internationally.
The approximately 680 mechanics, whose daily inspections and repairs are essential to airline operations, went on strike Friday evening, failing to reach an agreement on wages and working conditions.
The company said it had reduced its operational fleet to 32 aircraft, compared to nearly 200 in normal times.
Read also: Strike at Canada’s 2nd largest airline: Ottawa calls for dialogue
Negotiations between the two parties continued late into Saturday evening with the help of an arbitrator, without success.
On Thursday, the threat of class action seemed to have been averted following the intervention of the federal government, which ordered binding arbitration to settle the contractual dispute.
But maintaining that the decision did not prohibit the strike movement, the mechanics union decided to move forward Friday evening, emphasizing that “ the airline’s refusal to negotiate made the strike inevitable« .
A strike notice was issued at the beginning of the month after the mechanics rejected an agreement in principle.
With MAP
