WestJet Avoids Pilots’ Strike Through Last-Minute Tentative Agreement
The Calgary-based airline WestJet has signed a tentative agreement to avoid a labour strike threatened by the union representing its pilots. The strike would have forced the airline to ground the majority of its planes heading into a travel-heavy May long weekend.
WestJet and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents around 1,800 pilots working for WestJet and its subsidiary company Swoop, signed the agreement just hours before the strike deadline in the early hours of the morning on May 19.
The tentative agreement ends about eight months of negotiations between ALPA and WestJet, through which the union was requesting “better job security, industry-standard pay, and more flexible schedules to allow for a better work life balance” for the pilots.
“There will be NO labour action,” WestJet ALPA wrote in a Twitter post on May 19. “We sincerely thank you for your support.”
ALPA represents over 69,000 pilots working for nearly 40 American and Canadian airlines, making it the largest airline pilot union in the world.
Although the agreement prevented a major pilot walkout right before the long weekend, WestJet still cancelled over 110 flights as a precautionary measure less than a day before signing the agreement with ALPA.
At the time of the cancellations, WestJet Group’s CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said the airline and ALPA were “still significantly apart” in their negotiations. WestJet also said that it had grounded most of its 737 and 787 fleet in preparation for a pilot strike.
After making the deal, von Hoensbroech issued a statement addressing the cancellations, saying the airline recognized the “impact” on its customers.
“We sincerely appreciate their patience during this time,” he said on May 19.
The statement said WestJet “is ramping up its operations as quickly and efficiently as possible,” but noted it will take some time before it reaches “full resumption of operations.”
“Guests remain encouraged to continue to check the status of their flights before heading to the airport,” it said.
Despite the new bargaining agreement between WestJet and its ALPA pilots, the union said earlier this week that around 340 pilots have quit working for the Calgary-based airline over the past year and a half, mostly to work for other companies.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
