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, and two weeks of turbulent discussions with the union on a new deal.
Union officials are seeking a new collective agreement that includes higher wages and benefits.
Speaking to reporters in Calgary on Saturday, WestJet president Diederik Pen said the strike has led to the cancellation of 235 flights as of Saturday morning, impacting around 33,000 people.
If there is no solution Saturday, the airline will likely 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 a single arbitrator to decide on a 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 said.
“If there is no bargaining table, it makes no sense.”
The CIRB has previously ruled that it can’t interfere in the free bargaining process or the workers’ right to strike.
O’Regan issued a statement Saturday, saying he was reviewing the order by the CIRB, calling it “clearly inconsistent” with the direction he provided.
He said he respects the authority of the board, which he noted is independent from the government.
He met with the two sides Saturday evening, he said in a social media post.
“I told them they needed to work together with the Canada Industrial Relations Board to resolve their differences and get their first agreement done,” O’Regan said.
“There’s a lot at stake here. Canadians need this resolved.”
In a letter to O’Regan, NDP labour critic Matthew Green expressed “profound concern” about mandating final binding arbitration.
He noted the CIRB has resorted to compulsory arbitration only seven times in the past 45 years, calling it “a measure of last resort.”
“The premature issuance of your order … constitutes a drastic deviation from established practice and undermines the integrity of the collective bargaining process,” Green wrote in the letter obtained by Global News.
He said the move sets a “concerning precedent that threatens the balance of power in labour relations and the essential right of workers to negotiate the terms of their employment freely and fairly.”
“It is imperative that the government respects the autonomy of the collective bargaining process and allows it to proceed without undue interference,” he said.
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.”
“AMFA has offered to meet, at any time and any place to resume negotiations,” the update said. “WestJet has not responded. That is the truth.”
Von Hoensbroech maintained that the union’s only purpose in the 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.
The change in position seemed to shock travellers stranded at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Saturday.
Hari Karan, a passenger from Vaughan, Ont., was expecting to go to the Dominican Republic with his family.
“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 daughter Meera, 8.
Keith Ralph, 30, of Toronto, was surprised to find out his flight to Barbados was cancelled. 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.”
AMFA members set up a picket line in front of Terminal 3 at Toronto Pearson Airport.
Sean McVeigh, an aircraft maintenance engineer at WestJet, told Global News the airline’s decision to stop negotiating and go to the labour minister for arbitration “changed everything.”
“Unfortunately, they ran out of time and we had no choice,” McVeigh said.
Meanwhile, von Hoensbroech said the union doesn’t 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.”
Gabor Lukacs, president of advocacy group Air Passenger Rights, said as things currently stand, the union is participating in a legal strike.
“I believe that the blame here lies at the feet of management and not the union,” Lukacs said. “From a business management perspective they (WestJet) have not been handling the situation well and they need to face the music.”
On Saturday, Pen said WestJet would refund customers for their cancelled flights. Depending on their flight, some travellers could also qualify for an overnight hotel stay covered by the airline.
When asked ahead of the strike Thursday if any flights were being added to help possibly stranded WestJet travellers, Air Canada told Global News the airline is entering the peak summer travel period.
“Our aircrafts are fully committed and already quite full, therefore we have limited additional capacity,” the company said in an email.
— with files from The Canadian Press and Gabby Rodrigues, Global News