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
unions
Brace yourselves, Canada: a WestJet pilots strike or lockout could begin Friday. WestJet pilots have issued a 72-hour strike notice to the company and the government, and their union is warning that the airline could be shut down just before the busy May long weekend. Meanwhile, Flair Airlines says it’s adding flights in Western Canada to help passengers who might be stranded by a WestJet pilots’ strike or company lockout. The Air Line Pilots Association said in a news release late Monday that WestJet pilots plan to begin lawful job action early Friday morning, which the release said “could include Read more
A messy WestJet pilots’ strike is still possible for this week, but negotiations appear to be continuing between pilots and the airline. The pilots union issued an update Sunday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time to say talks were set to to continue. “As of Sunday at 5pm ET, no 72 hour notice for strike or lock-out has been submitted,” according to @WestJetALPA, the official Twitter account for the WestJet Master Executive Council (MEC), Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA). Global News reports that pilots representing both WestJet and its discount brand Swoop voted in favour of a strike mandate in Read more
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the airport… Canadians managed to get through a winter marred by travel snafus, including winter storms, overcrowded airports and cancelled flights. But now comes a potential spring double whammy. Some 155,000 federal works are on strike today (April 20). Talks are back on between the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Trudeau government, but for now Canada Revenue Agency workers are not at their desks, and Canadian passport offices are closed. The CBC reports that passport applications and renewals “are on hold and limited to those in humanitarian Read more
Flight attendants represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have launched the “Unpaid Work Won’t Fly” campaign, a national effort to end the widespread abuse of unpaid work in the airline sector that sees the average flight attendant in Canada work 35 hours every month for free. “Much of the Canadian public has no idea that when flight attendants are doing their pre-flight safety checks, or assisting passengers with boarding, or helping passengers when their plane is delayed at the gate after a long journey, that the flight attendant isn’t even being paid,” said Wesley Lesosky, a flight Read more
