Updated June 27, 2024 @ 7:20pm
A possible long-weekend strike at WestJet has been averted.
The federal government on Thursday directed the airline and plane mechanics into binding arbitration to resolve their dispute, a move all but certain to avoid a work stoppage that could otherwise have disrupted flights for hundreds of thousands of travellers over the Canada Day long weekend.
In a late-afternoon social media post, Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan said he was invoking his authority under the Canada Labour Code to resolve the impasse between the two sides as the clock ticked down toward a Friday evening deadline.
"Strong first agreements set unions and employers on the path of collective bargaining," O'Regan said in a statement.
"They set a strong foundation to build upon at the bargaining table and bring the parties one step closer to a strong second agreement and an even stronger third agreement — reached at the bargaining table. That’s what we want to see here."
The Canada Industrial Relations Board could opt not to suspend the right to a work stoppage as it hammers out a contract, but precedent suggests that outcome is unlikely.
The parties are slated to meet with the tribunal on Friday. "The board will then determine next steps or make the necessary rulings, as appropriate," said tribunal spokesman Jean-Daniel Tardif in an email.
Union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative deal earlier this month and opposed WestJet's request for intervention by the country's labour tribunal.
In response, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) served the carrier with an initial 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 amid tense negotiations over a first collective agreement between WestJet and some 680 maintenance engineers.
The Calgary-based carrier had already begun to cancel flights this week, calling off roughly 25 trips on Thursday and Friday in anticipation of possible job action as early as 5:30 p.m. MDT on Friday. Affecting some 3,300 customers, WestJet's decision to start concentrating its 180-plane fleet sought to avoid leaving aircraft in far-flung locations and stranding passengers and crew in the event of a work stoppage.
As negotiations toward the union's first collective agreement dragged on in a windowless conference room at a hotel near Toronto's Pearson airport, the tone of statements put out by the two sides grew chippier.
The union — the majority of its WestJet members are aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) who inspect each active plane daily — claimed WestJet was resorting to "brinksmanship" and "false accusations."
On Wednesday, the airline asked the tribunal to quash the latest strike order and bar future ones — except on approval from the labour board. The affidavit from lawyer Simon Mortimer argued that the union was "moving backward" in the talks, pointing to one counter-offer from workers that called for "a 50 per cent cost increase" over the tentative agreement.
The union's bargaining demands showed a failure to act in good faith and its public statements included "inflammatory" and "offensive" elements, the document claimed.
In a statement, the mechanics' negotiating committee retorted: "WestJet alleges that an AME strike would place the 'company and the travelling public in peril at a critical time.' It is difficult to conceive of a more inflammatory or offensive comment."
Ian Evershed, a union representative involved in the talks, cited "some pretty intense moments" during the talks.
“We just aren’t seeing any progress," he said in phone interview Wednesday.
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 a long weekend in May, but not before cancelling more than 230 flights and disrupting the travel plans of thousands of passengers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2024
