Strike grounds WestJet flights in Canada

WestJet flight attendants at Toronto Pearson Airport say ‘unpaid work won’t fly’ (Photo: @CUPEOntario / X)

Nearly 4,500 flight attendants in Canada suspended a strike on Monday, after winning an improved offer from the bosses.

The workers at WestJet, the country’s second-largest airline, walked out on strike last Sunday in a dispute over pay.

The strike forced the airline to cancel at least 700 flights.

WestJet and Cupe Local branch 8125, the union representing the workers, have since reached a tentative agreement.

A staggering 97.3 percent of Cupe members voted by 99.4 percent for the strike last month.

WestJet immediately retaliated with a “lockout”, withholding pay and stopping members from working.

Flight attendants in North America are not paid for the work they do before take-off.

This means they aren’t paid for as many as 35 hours of work a month.

WestJet’s latest offer, before workers walked out, was a 13 percent pay rise from 1 October.

But Cupe made clear at the time that bosses had not addressed the issue at the heart of the dispute—flight attendants’ unpaid labour.

“Boarding, safety sweeps, assisting passengers and ground delays are entirely on our dime,” said Alia Hussain, president of Cupe Local branch 8125.

Prime minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government did not intervene in this dispute. But it did in a similar dispute last August.

Less than 12 hours into a strike by over 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada, labour minister Patty Hajdu imposed a “back-to-work” order on strikers.

The workers defied the order and stayed out for three days.

The strike only ended after Air Canada and Cupe reached a tentative agreement. A few weeks later, workers overwhelmingly rejected the “improved offer”.

But, due to the agreement, a vote to reject meant pay was referred to mediation and then binding arbitration, with no new strikes permitted.

It is a warning not to trust bosses in negotiations.

The Air Canada strike caused 3,200 cancelled flights and cost the bosses £225 million.

The details of the tentative agreement in the WestJet dispute have not yet been made public.

But, Alia Hussain, speaking to the press on Monday, said that it was a significant step forward.  

“It came together in a way that made sense for us to take to our membership,” she said.

Cupe members will now have 30 days to sign off on the offer.

But if it falls short of what workers demand, they need to be ready to reject—and to resume the strike.