WestJet says mechanics strike would disrupt long weekend plans for 250,000 travellers

A potential strike by WestJet airplane mechanics would upend travel plans for 250,000 customers over the Canada Day long weekend, the airline says — and cost it millions of dollars.

The Calgary-based carrier has already begun to cancel flights, calling off roughly 25 trips on Thursday and Friday in anticipation of possible job action by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), which has threatened to hit the picket lines as early as 5:30 p.m. MDT on Friday.

Already affecting some 3,300 customers, WestJet’s decision to start concentrating its 180-plane fleet seeks to avoid leaving aircraft in far-flung locations and stranding passengers and crew.

As negotiations toward the union’s first collective agreement drag on in a windowless conference room at a hotel near Toronto’s Pearson airport, the tone of statements put out by the two sides has grown chippier.

The mechanics union, which represents about 680 workers — the majority are aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) who inspect each active plane daily — has claimed WestJet is resorting to “brinksmanship” and “false accusations.” It said Wednesday the airline had asked the government to quash its strike notice without notifying its negotiators.

“In its own submission of today, WestJet alleges that an AME strike would place the ‘company and the travelling public in peril at a critical time,'” the union negotiating committee said in a release.

“It is difficult to conceive of a more inflammatory or offensive comment.”

WestJet deemed the impact of a potential strike “catastrophic.”

“As we quickly approach the July long weekend, it is especially devastating that the strike notice we have received from AMFA forces us to begin cancelling flights and parking aircraft, for the second time in just over a week,” said WestJet Airlines president Diederik Pen in a release.

He called the decision to trigger flight cancellations a “painful” one, noting the fallout for customers.

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Plane mechanics first served the carrier with a 72-hour strike notice on June 17, prompting WestJet to cancel nearly 50 flights last week before both sides agreed to resume negotiations. The second strike notice came Tuesday.

Union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative deal earlier this month and have opposed WestJet’s request for intervention by the country’s labour tribunal — a submission that triggered the union’s initial strike theat.

The Canada Industrial Relations Board has said it needs more time and submissions from each party before deciding whether to create a collective agreement via binding arbitration, as proposed by WestJet last week.

Just over a year ago, the airline found itself in a similar situation after some 1,800 pilots threatened to walk off the job. WestJet averted a strike after reaching a last-minute deal in the wee hours ahead of the May long weekend, but not before cancelling more than 230 flights and disrupting the travel plans of thousands of passengers.

Any breakthrough in negotiations between the carrier and its mechanics seemed far away as of Wednesday.

“There’s been some comfortable moments and some pretty intense moments,” said Ian Evershed, a union representative involved in the talks, in a phone interview. “We just aren’t seeing any progress.

“We really feel that the company’s really not serious about the negotiations — that it’s a form of delay tactics,” he added.

The members are aiming for a raise well beyond WestJet’s initial offer of a roughly 10 per cent hike — it put forward a bigger one this week — in the first year of a five-and-a-half-year contract, Evershed said.

“We’re looking for higher than that for sure,” he said, pointing to counterparts in the United States who he said earn more than 1.5 times the current pay 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.

“While we are willing and ready to come to an agreement, we are equally prepared to take any actions necessary to ensure we do not jeopardize the future viability of our airline,” the company said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2024

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press