Westjet begins cancelling flights after mechanics’ strike notice (2024)

WestJet Airlines Ltd. has begun cancelling flights as it prepares for a possible strike action from the airline’s mechanics union.

In a statement on Tuesday, the airline said about 40 flights and 6,500 passengers would be impacted.

“We are immensely disheartened that we are in a position where we must activate our contingency plan and begin parking aircraft, as a result of the strike notice served by (the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association),” Westjet president Diederik Pen said in a news release.

Article content

“We deeply regret the disruption this will have on the travel plans of our guests, communities and businesses that rely on our critical air service.”

The union issued a 72-hour strike notice on Tuesday after 97.5 per cent of members rejected a tentative deal with the airline.

“WestJet now refuses to negotiate despite previous commitments by several company executives that bargaining would continue through this week,” the union wrote in a statement.

WestJet has now asked for negotiations to shift to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, which would arbitrate the terms of an agreement.

“Following the memberships’ nearly unanimous decision to reject a generous tentative agreement that would have made our Aircraft Maintenance Engineers the highest paid in the country, with a take-home pay increase of 30 to 40 per cent in the first year of the proposed agreement, it is clear that the bargaining process has broken down,” Pen said.

The union has called the arbitration a “clever” tactic that would hurt its chances of an “industry-changing contract.”

With files from The Canadian Press

Article content