WestJet has cancelled more than 800 flights, upending plans for thousands of passengers as an unexpected strike by aircraft maintenance engineers entered its third day on the busiest travel weekend of the season.
Some 680 workers, whose daily inspections and repairs are essential to airline operations, walked off the job on Friday evening despite a directive from the federal labour minister Seamus O’Regan calling for binding arbitration.
In a news release, the Calgary-based airline said it had cancelled 832 flights as of Sunday as a result of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association’s “unnecessary work stoppage.”
On Sunday alone, the airline grounded 424 flights. WestJet said it continues to seek intervention and is exploring “every possible avenue for resolution.”
“We continue to hold our view that the current strike serves no purpose other than to inflict maximum damage to our airline and the country,” said airline president Diederik Pen in the news release.
“WestJet is in receipt of a binding arbitration order and awaits urgent clarity from the government that a strike and arbitration cannot exist simultaneously.
“This is something they have committed to address and, like all Canadians, we are waiting.”
The job action comes after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative deal from WestJet in mid-June and following two weeks of tense talks between the two parties.
A decision from the Canada Industrial Relations Board seemed to affirm the legality of the union’s actions regardless of protocols around arbitration, a process that typically averts work stoppages rather than starting them.
“The board finds that the ministerial referral does not have the effect of suspending the right to strike or lockout,” the tribunal wrote Friday.
O’Regan said the next day the board’s ruling was “clearly inconsistent” with the direction he provided, but later added he respected the body’s independence. He met with both sides Saturday evening.
“I told them they needed to work together with the Canada Industrial Relations Board to resolve their differences and get their first agreement done,” he said in a social media post.
In an update to union members, the AMFA-WestJet Negotiating Committee said the CIRB has ruled that aircraft maintenance engineers are entitled to continue their strike.
Union leaders said they are committed to a negotiated solution, but added it cannot be done alone.
“We hope the ompany will reconsider its standing refusal to respond to our proposals,” the union said.
“Our passengers have been gravely inconvenienced, and we consider the responsibility for this harm to rest exclusively with WestJet.”