WestJet flight attendants have voted almost unanimously in favour of a strike that could see thousands of workers walk off the job in less than three weeks if a new contract agreement is not reached with the Calgary-based airline.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 8125 that represents approximately 4,400 WestJet cabin crew members has reported a 99.4 percent approval for the strike mandate from a voter turnout of 97.3 percent.
CUPE 8125 President Alia Hussain described WestJet cabin crew as “united and determined.”
“They voted to strike because they stand behind the bargaining priorities that they have identified, especially pay for all hours of work performed,” Hussain said in the statement. “WestJet should do the right thing and prevent travel disruptions for their passengers.”
WestJet Group CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech described the strike authorization vote as a “common step” undertaken by unions within the broader framework of labour negotiations.
Bargaining Continues
The union said in a prior bulletin that it has made strides in certain areas of bargaining, but its campaign for better compensation and working conditions remains ongoing.“Our primary concerns are around wages, how our wages trigger and our working conditions,” Hussain told reporters during a July 14 rally in Calgary. “We’re here to tell the company that the archaic and exploitative flight credit system that the company currently uses does not compensate us appropriately.”
Ground-duty compensation continues to be a contentious issue at WestJet, especially after Air Canada flight attendants achieved remuneration for specific ground responsibilities at up to 70 percent of their hourly pay earlier this year.
WestJet has said the “credit hour” system remains the standard pay model for flight attendants across North America.
“Rather than paying a lower hourly wage for every hour on duty, the credit hour system combines flight time, ground duties, delays and other required work into a single, higher rate of pay. That rate is then ‘credited’ across the full duty day,” the company said.
The airline views 80 credit hours a month as full-time work. The pay rate ranges between $28.45 and $53.61 per credit hour, amounting to between $2,304 and $4,289 per month, WestJet said.
Some 250 WestJet flight attendants formed a back-to-back line on July 14 in front of the airline’s headquarters in Calgary to convey a message to management regarding their wages.
Participants carried signs during the day of action across the country that portrayed messages like “Ready to Strike,” “Unpaid work won’t fly” and “Frustrated with WestJet? So are we.”
If WestJet cabin crew do strike it will be similar to last year’s job action by Air Canada flight attendants.
A total of 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants walked off the job last August over the issue of unpaid work. The dispute was eventually settled after the federal government stepped in and forced the two sides into binding arbitration.
CUPE’s National President Mark Hancock has written a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu, urging the federal government to respect the collective bargaining process between WestJet and its flight attendants.
He called a potential strike a fundamentally right protected under the Canadian Charter and asked the government not to intervene like it did in the Air Canada labour dispute last year.
Neither Carney nor Hadju had commented on the issue prior to publication.
