WestJet cancels hundreds of flights following mechanics union strike

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Passengers travelling out of Vancouver International Airport on Saturday faced pickets, long lineups, delays and flight cancellations after a strike by unionized mechanics at WestJet.

The last-minute strike forced the company to cancel more than 150 flights on Friday and 235 flights Saturday, stranding tens of thousands of passengers on the busy Canada Day long weekend. Severe travel disruption at airports across the country is expected.

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At YVR Saturday, about 20 WestJet employees were picketing outside the international arrivals area of the airport.

One of the pickets, Mark Rudge, strike committee chair for the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, apologized to travellers for the delays and cancellations, saying they didn’t want to strike on this busy weekend but are out of options.

“We wanted to have this deal done weeks and weeks ago, but we have been absolutely blocked by management, and they have not wanted to even talk to us in most cases and return our phone calls,” he said Saturday.

Alyssa Smith, a spokesperson for YVR, said they were expecting approximately 335,000 travellers this weekend with a daily average of 84,000 travellers. Passengers were advised to check the latest information with WestJet, to budget extra time at the airport, and to check in at the information desk at YVR for help.

The union announced its members walked off the job around 4:30 p.m. 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 on Thursday, following two weeks of turbulent discussions with the union on a new deal.

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WestJet executives told a news conference in Calgary that 235 flights had already been cancelled as of midday Saturday, affecting 33,000 passengers, with the possibility of another 150 cancelled flights by the end of the day if there was no resolution to the walkout.

WestJet Airlines president Diederik Pen called the strike “devastating” for passengers and the airline.

“We are outraged and I want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to get this resolved,” said Pen.

Many people took to social media to voice their frustration about cancelled holiday plans, while others expressed futility at trying to reach WestJet employees on the phone. One traveller called D. Rose on X said their trip was cancelled as they were unloading their bags at the airport and wrote: “You’ve ruined our family vacation.” Another person Jeremy Berger wrote on social media that he was on hold with WestJet for 12 hours before being disconnected.

Rudge said they need the company to come to the table and bargain in good faith.

“We’ve sat down with them several times and they’ve taken a hard stance, and any of their offers have been subpar at best, and it’s just nothing the union is prepared to put in front of its membership anymore,” he said.

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He added that he was “horrified and shocked” that a federal minister would get involved in a private matter.

“We’re not essential workers here,” he said. “We take people to Mexico but that’s not an essential service.”

He acknowledged that Canada Day long weekend was “a horrible time” but said the issue should have been resolved weeks ago.

Rudge said there needs to be remuneration that attracts people into the business because they are facing a staffing crunch.

“What we’re seeing is people are leaving en masse. We’re having people retire early. I’m one of the most senior guys here now, and I shouldn’t be at my age, so the amount of work is shocking and this is about safety. You can’t have an understaffed maintenance department taking care of a very highly technical and sophisticated aircraft,” he said.

According to WestJet, under the proposed agreement, the workers would have been the highest paid in the country, with a 12.5 per cent wage increase in the first year of the agreement, and a compounded wage increase of 23 per cent over the term of the agreement.

The company says its airline mechanics make on average $109,000, with the top earners making between $150,000 and $170,000.

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According to Gábor Lukács, a Canadian air passenger rights advocate and president of Air Passenger Rights, WestJet must offer passengers a choice of rebooking, free of charge, on the next available flight operated by any carrier, including on competitor airlines or a refund in the original form of payment and within 30 days.

Additional compensation for out-of-pocket expenses such as meals, hotels, and lost wages may be owed to passengers if the flight is outside of Canada, depending on their travel’s origin and destination.

Lukács recommends people record their own interactions with WestJet. Evidence of WestJet’s actions and omissions, including refusal to offer compensation or rebooking, may turn out to be crucial evidence for enforcing rights to compensation, he said.

Pen said WestJet would follow regulations and refund passengers while offering overnight hotel stays to those who are stranded. Beyond that he said the airline was “unable to provide any additional compensation.”

This isn’t the first time labour unrest at WestJet has affected holiday weekend travel plans. The airline averted a strike last year in the early hours of the May long weekend, but before cancelling over 230 flights and forcing thousands of people to have their travel plans changed.

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ticrawford@postmedia.com

With files from The Canadian Press

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