Earlier this week, the WestJet negotiating committee of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association announced that they had reached a tentative agreement with their employer.
This is the latest development in what has been a rocky bargaining process, and it pauses a strike that had been in place since 28 June 2024.
The AMFA represents about 680 aircraft maintenance engineers and workers in related skilled trade groups employed with WestJet across Canada, including in Calgary and Edmonton.
In an email to The Alberta Worker, Bret Oestreich, AMFA’s national president, confirmed that there are 260 aircraft maintenance engineers in Calgary and 65 in Edmonton. He wouldn’t confirm the number of other skilled trade groups in Alberta or whether there were any members elsewhere in Alberta.
These workers have been trying to negotiate their first contract since joining the AMFA in March of last year. AMFA filed a certification application with Canada Industrial Relations Board in January 2023 on behalf of the workers, after collecting representation cards from nearly 75% of the workers who would be covered by AMFA. The workers reached out to them the previous November regarding unionizing.
The aircraft maintenance engineers were the last major employee workgroup at WestJet Airlines to unionize.
From the start, WestJet has tried to interfere with that unionization, beginning with attempting to limit the scope of representation.
AMFA wanted to include the following positions in their new bargaining group: aircraft maintenance engineers, (including apprentices), aircraft maintenance leads, avionics technicians (including apprentices), inspector crew leads, maintenance planners, furnishing technicians (including apprentices), maintenance controllers, senior configuration control specialists, fleet engineers, technical instructors, senior technical instructors, technical representatives, and senior technical services specialists.
WestJet, on the other hand, wanted to restrict it to just aircraft maintenance engineers (including structure), avionics technicians, aircraft maintenance leads, and intenance leads, avionics technicians (including apprentices), inspector crew leads. This would have removed nearly 100 workers from the bargaining group.
Ultimately, the CIRB ruled in favour of the workers, but also including day-of operations planners and furnishing technicians (including apprentices), adding an additional 30 or so workers. The CIRB argued that all of thes workers “share a community of interests in that the work performed is directed towards the repair, maintenance, and trade certification of aircraft”.
However, WestJet responded by trying to replace aircraft maintenance lead and inspector crew lead positions wit ha newly created operations manager position, which would allow them to reduce the size of the bargaining unit. AMFA is currently litigating them before the CIRB regarding this unionbusting tactic.
AMFA wasted no time in filing notice with WestJet that they wanted to commence bargaining immediately.
WestJet responded to that request by filing a judicial review of CIRB’s certification of the nearly 700 workers in May 2023. They also began removing benefits for worker representatives.
Prior to unionizing with AMFA, some of these workers were represented by the Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Association. WestJet provided paid shift release, travel benefits, and other rights that helped AMEA officers represent technical operations workers.
Once the workers unionized with AMFA, making AMEA defunct, WestJet cancelled those benefits and refused to provide them to the AMFA counterparts, even if they were performing the same responsibilities.