I keep seeing stories with screaming headlines saying “Feds Won’t Intervene to Stop Air Canada Strike.” I disagree. If you look closely, that’s not what they’re saying. Here are some of Prime Minister Trudeau’s comments yesterday. “I’m not going to put my thumb on the scale on either side. It is up to Air Canada and the pilots’ union to do the work to figure out how to make sure that they are not hurting millions of Canadians,” he told reporters in Quebec, according to a report from Reuters. “Every time there’s a strike, people say ‘Oh, you’ll get the Read more
unions
Travel chaos could be coming to Canada in just a few days. Air Canada today (Sept. 9) said a pilots strike appears “increasingly likely,” and that it was preparing for an “orderly shutdown” as early as Sunday, Sept. 15. Even a partial shutdown of Canada’s largest airline would result in travel chaos in Canada, and also in other cities around the world. Air Canada flies to more than 180 destinations across the globe, including the U.S.A., Europe, Asia, South America and Australia. Bloomberg last week reported that Air Canada offered pilots a deal that would raise some pilot wages by Read more
The carnage continues. But WestJet executives and the union representing striking airiline mechanics appear set to resume bargaining. WestJet has announced the cancellation of a total of an astounding 832 flights as it deals with a surprise strike by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA). WestJet today said it has cancelled an additional 410 flights, raising the total to more than 800 flights since the strike notice was issued just days in advance of Canada Day long weekend. That’s roughly 110,000 passengers with cancelled flights. “Missed vacation goers, stranded business travellers and long-weekend family reunions have been disrupted due Read more
Welcome to Canada Day travel chaos. With WestJet mechanics out on a surprising strike, the airline has cancelled 150 flights for today (Saturday, June 29), and it warns more could be coming. Mechanics walked off the job at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time last night (Friday, June 28), an action the union says is perfectly legal despite a ministerial order from the Justin Trudeau government that union reps and WS undergo binding arbitration to come up with a new bargaining agreement. A couple of hours later, WestJet announced it will cancel 150 flights, possibly affecting 20,000 travellers. It also warned that Read more
With less than 24 hours before a potential strike by WestJet pilots, the airline has begun cancelling flights. “As the WestJet Group prepares for labour action by WestJet and Swoop pilots, the airline has started taking down its network,” officials said today in a statement. “This action ensures the airline can avoid abandoning aircraft in remote locations without support and enables the proactive communication with guests and crew to minimize the potential for being stranded.” According to the website FlightAware.com, WestJet had cancelled 111 flights (30% of today’s scheduled flights) as of 7 p.m. Eastern Time. According to the Ottawa Read more
