Calgary-based airline WestJet has cancelled more than 200 flights after the union representing its plane mechanics announced late Friday that members had hit the picket lines.
The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) announced its members started to strike around 5:30 p.m. MDT Friday because the airline’s “unwillingness to negotiate with the union made the strike inevitable.”
The move came after the federal government issued a ministerial order for binding arbitration Thursday. The order also followed two weeks of turbulent discussions with the union on a new deal.
Speaking to reporters in Calgary on Saturday, WestJet president Diederik Pen said the strike is having a significant impact on Canadians, forcing them to miss weddings, holidays and family reunions.
He noted that 235 flights have already been cancelled as of Saturday morning, impacting around 33,000 guests. If there is no solution Saturday, the airline will likely need to cancel another 150 flights.
The Canada Day long weekend typically sees around 70,000 guests fly on WestJet flights. That’s up from the 65,000 guests WestJet normally serves on weekends.
“The stress and the devastation this is causing is unnecessary and hurts all of us,” Pen said.
“We’re outraged and I just want to make sure that you can rest assured that we are doing everything we can to get this resolved and to get an intervention.”
WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said the directive handed down by Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan ordering the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to mandate arbitration means the bargaining process has ended.
It leaves an arbitrator to decide on the contract rather than both parties at the bargaining table, he said.
“This makes a strike totally absurd because the reason why you actually do a strike is because you may need to exercise pressure on the bargaining table,” von Hoensbroech told reporters.
“If there is no bargaining table, it makes no sense, which basically means that there shouldn’t be a strike.”
O’Regan issued a brief statement on Saturday morning saying he was reviewing the order by the CIRB, calling it “clearly inconsistent” with the direction he provided.
“I will be looking at additional steps to protect the interests of the employer, the union and all Canadians travelling over this national holiday weekend,” O’Regan said.
Von Hoensbroech called the strike a “very destructive thing,” describing the AMFA as a “rogue U.S. union” that is taking “unusual” practices in negotiating a collective agreement.
He maintained that the union’s only purpose in this strike was to disrupt as many travellers as possible.
On Thursday, the airline said that the AMFA had confirmed it would abide by the direction. “Given this, a strike or lockout will not occur, and the airline will no longer proceed in cancelling flights.”
The change in position on Friday seemed to shock travellers, who were expecting to board their WestJet flights on Saturday but were instead stranded at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Sukhvinder Malhotra of Kitchener, Ont., said he and his family of six — himself, his wife, two kids and his two elderly parents — were supposed to board a flight to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico when it got cancelled.
“I’m still here,” Malhotra said.
“I was trying my hardest to get some other connections, but there was no success. Ultimately, for this year, we cannot go on vacation. We only had this time slot.”
Another passenger, Hari Karan from Vaughan, Ont., who was expecting to go to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, with his family, expressed his frustration with the cancellation.
“My children were so excited and they are so sad now,” Karan said. “It’s last minute. I’m just disappointed.”
“I was looking forward to going to the beach, … now we have to go home,” said his eight-year-old daughter Meera.
Keith Ralph, 30, of Toronto, was planning to go to Barbados and was surprised to find out his flight was cancelled.
“I was following the news updates, and the last time I checked yesterday (Friday), I thought it was settled but unfortunately this morning I got a surprise. I wasn’t expecting it to be honest.”
Ralph said he is trying to fly standby or book a flight with Air Canada.
“I am thinking twice about booking my next flight through WestJet.”
In an update to its membership, the union posted a letter from the board regarding its decision in which it said that the ministerial referral “does not have the effect of suspending the right to strike or lockout.”
Members of the AMFA union set up a picket line in front of Terminal 3 at Toronto Pearson Airport.
“The company’s decision to stop negotiating with us fairly and to go to the labour minister for arbitration changed everything and unfortunately, they ran out of time and we had no choice,” said Sean McVeigh, an aircraft maintenance engineer at WestJet.
Meanwhile, von Hoensbroech said the union doesn’t seem to want to negotiate.
“A week ago, we had a first strike notice and then they rescinded that strike notice after we agreed to have four additional days of bargaining,” he said.
“On the first day, after a few hours, while we were still negotiating, they issued the next strike notice, which just shows their only purpose was to disrupt as many travellers as possible and actually not come to a conclusion at the table.”
Jessica Burns, an aircraft maintenance professor at Centennial College, told Global News at the picket line the profession is “in a shortage crisis right now.”
“The aviation industry has known about it for a long time,” Burns said.
“It’s hard to get people into the aviation industry if they hear working conditions are bad, if you’re working long night shift hours and being compensated very low.”
This isn’t the first time WestJet has been on the verge of a strike. Last year, the airline averted a strike in the early hours of the May long weekend, but not before cancelling over 230 flights and forcing thousands of people to have their travel plans changed.
On Saturday, Pen said WestJet will provide refunds to customers for their cancelled flights. Some travellers could also qualify to have an overnight hotel stay covered by the airline — depending on their flight.
— with files from The Canadian Press and Gabby Rodrigues, Global News