WestJet strike averted as Feds impose arbitration
WestJet and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association both said they will abide by the order, with strikes and lockouts off the table.
A possible long-weekend strike at WestJet has been averted.
The federal government on Jun. 27 directed the airline and plane mechanics into binding arbitration, steering clear of a work stoppage that threatened to disrupt flights for hundreds of thousands of travellers over the Canada Day long weekend.
In a late-afternoon social media post, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said he was invoking his authority under the Canada Labour Code to end the impasse between the two sides as the clock ticked down toward a Jun. 28 deadline.
“Strong first agreements set unions and employers on the path of collective bargaining,” O’Regan said in a statement.
“They set a strong foundation to build upon at the bargaining table and bring the parties one step closer to a strong second agreement and an even stronger third agreement — reached at the bargaining table. That’s what we want to see here.”
WestJet and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association both said they will abide by the order, with strikes and lockouts off the table.
The union, which had opposed arbitration by the country’s labour tribunal, took a less upbeat tone.
“There is no modern precedent for the minister’s action,” the association’s negotiating committee said in a statement. But it added that it will tell its approximately 680 workers “to refrain from any unlawful job action.”
Union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative deal earlier this month and fought WestJet’s request for intervention by the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
In response to that request, the mechanics association served the company with an initial 72-hour strike notice on June 17, prompting WestJet to cancel nearly 50 flights last week before both sides agreed to resume negotiations.
The Calgary-based carrier had already begun to cancel flights this week, calling off roughly 25 trips on Jun. 27 and Jun. 28 in anticipation of possible job action as early as 5:30 p.m. MDT on Jun. 28. Affecting some 3,300 customers, WestJet’s decision to start concentrating its 180-plane fleet sought to avoid leaving aircraft in far-flung locations and stranding passengers and crew in the event of a work stoppage.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board could opt not to suspend the right to a work stoppage as it hammers out a contract, but precedent and statements from the two parties suggests that outcome is a non-starter.
Both sides are slated to meet with the tribunal on Jun. 28.
“The board will then determine next steps or make the necessary rulings, as appropriate,” tribunal spokesman Jean-Daniel Tardif said in an email.
The mechanics are hoping for a raise well beyond WestJet’s initial offer of a roughly 10 per cent pay hike — it put forward a bigger one this week — in the first year of a five-and-a-half-year contract, Evershed said. He also pointed to counterparts in the United States who he said earn more than 1.5 times the current compensation level.
WestJet said it has offered a 12.5 per cent wage hike in the first year of the contract, and a compounded wage increase of 23 per cent over the rest of the term.
It also said the deal would protect work-life balance, ensure job security and attract more workers to the technical operations team.
