Hundreds of flights canceled by Canada’s second-largest airline, passengers in extreme suffering

Flight attendants at Canada's second-largest airline WestJet have gone on strike since Sunday (August 2) after failing to reach a desired agreement with the authorities. Thousands of passengers have been left in extreme suffering as hundreds of flights have been canceled during this long weekend of closure.

Ongoing negotiations between the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), an organization representing about 4,400 flight attendants, and the airline authorities collapsed late Saturday night. The employees are mainly demanding a salary increase, as well as compensation for the work they do on the ground before and after takeoff (boarding pay and ground pay).

WestJet said it had canceled more than 300 flights as of Sunday morning. However, passengers will be refunded their tickets or arranged to be sent to their destinations on the next available flight, including with other airlines. The strike has forced the airline to ground its Boeing 737 and 787 aircraft to more than 100 destinations around the world.

WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said in a statement, “We made an offer that would have set a new standard for cabin crew in Canada. WestJet would have been the only airline to offer hourly pay for all pre-flight and post-flight hours and a double-digit pay increase in the first year. Unfortunately, they did not accept it.”

IDF conflict
CUPE (Branch 8125) President Alia Hussain said the airline’s offer was not enough for them. She called on the federal government to refrain from intervening in this labour dispute.

“We are striking because we believe we deserve better,” she said in a statement. If they had taken our demands seriously after nearly 11 months of negotiations, we wouldn’t be standing here today.

Canada’s Employment and Families Minister Patty Hajdu called the strike “disappointing” in a statement. She did not say whether the government would intervene. She said, “Our top negotiators are working day and night with CUPE and WestJet and are ready to help them reach an agreement as quickly as possible.”

WestJet’s cabin crew gave a 72-hour strike notice on Thursday. The airline also issued a lockout notice in response.

In recent years, several U.S. airlines, including Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, have begun paying flight attendants for boarding time work in response to demands from their unions.

Last summer, about 10,000 flight attendants at Canada’s national airline, Air Canada, went on strike over similar demands. At that time, the federal government imposed mandatory arbitration on airlines and flight attendants, which enabled employees to collect some ground pay or additional remuneration.

Source: The Wall Street Journal