(Calgary) WestJet travellers continue to see the airline cancel more flights due to a sudden strike by its mechanics union.
Updated at 12:30 a.m.
Keith Doucette and Rianna Lim
The Canadian Press
The Calgary-based airline says it has cancelled 407 flights over the Canada Day long weekend in an effort to “maintain stability.”
Most flights were cancelled on Saturday, with 282 trips on WestJet planes cancelled.
“Every flight cancellation we are forced to make represents hundreds of guests who are affected by the irresponsible actions of this union,” WestJet Airlines President Diederik Pen said in a statement released Saturday evening.
The flight cancellations come after members of the Airplane Mechanics Fraternal Association walked out on Friday night, saying “WestJet’s refusal to negotiate with the union made a strike inevitable.”
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan
The pressure tactics come after union members rejected a deal with WestJet earlier this month and after two weeks of tense negotiations between the two sides.
Subsequently, the federal government stepped in and mandated WestJet and the union for binding arbitration.
Friday’s strike came as a surprise to many people flying WestJet, leaving travelers wondering whether or not they will be stranded far from home.
“Major delays, dead phone line. Unscheduled maintenance, not good. […] “Can I go home?” asked Luke Antrim, who lives in Nanaimo, on Platform X.
In an update addressed to its 680 members, AMFA management published a letter from the Canada Industrial Relations Board regarding its decision in which it affirms that the ministerial referral “does not have the effect of suspending the right to strike or lockout.
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The response prompted WestJet to say it was “extremely outraged by these actions and will hold AMFA ‘100% accountable for the unnecessary stress and costs that result’.”
Federal Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan, who said the Canada Industrial Relations Board’s order was “clearly inconsistent” with the direction he had given, spoke again on Saturday, asking both parties to work with the Council to reach an agreement.
“There is a lot at stake here. Canadians need this resolved,” he wrote on X.
“This strike is totally absurd”
Sean McVeigh, a WestJet aircraft maintenance engineer who was on the picket line at Terminal 3 at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on Saturday, said the strike was an attempt to force the airline to return to “bargaining respectful,” adding that the union regretted any inconvenience caused to passengers.
“The reason they (passengers) may have missed a flight or had to cancel is because WestJet is not respectfully sitting at the table and negotiating,” he said alongside about twenty other people on the picket line.
He stressed that employees were demanding better working conditions and a “fair and respectful salary” since they assume “a lot of responsibilities”.
Earlier this month, mechanics overwhelmingly rejected a tentative deal with WestJet, prompting the airline to seek government intervention.
Had they accepted the offer, WestJet mechanics would have become the “highest paid in the country,” according to the company’s CEO, Alexis Von Hoensbroech.
The latter blamed the situation on the “rogue union from the United States” which is trying to establish itself in Canada.
“This strike is totally absurd, because the reason for striking is that we need to put pressure on the people at the negotiating table. If there is no negotiating table, it makes no sense, there should be no strike,” Mr. Von Hoensbroech commented.
“The fault lies with management and not the union”
Gabor Lukacs, president of the air passengers’ rights group, believes “the fault lies with management, not the union.”
“From a business management perspective, WestJet has not managed this well and needs to address the situation,” he said in a telephone interview.
He said WestJet has an obligation under law to find alternative travel arrangements for stranded passengers within 48 hours, either through another of its flights or with a competitor.
People can also request a refund, but Mr. Lukacs advises against it.
“I urge passengers not to accept a refund. If you accept a refund, WestJet can wash its hands of its obligations to you.”
The change in position on Friday appeared to shock both travelers and executives.
“Is my Sunday flight in danger? “, asked Andrew Wheatley, of Edmonton, in a message on the social network X. “I support a union’s right to strike if it is legal. And I hope he gets a good deal. But at the same time, I have to be at work Monday morning,” he added.
This isn’t the first time WestJet has been on the brink of a strike. Last year, the airline avoided a strike in the early hours of the May long weekend, but before canceling more than 230 flights and forcing thousands to change their travel plans.
