WestJet’s roughly 4,400 flight attendants, represented by CUPE Local 8125, are poised to walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. Mountain Time on August 2 unless the airline and union reach a deal before then. The union issued a 72-hour strike notice on July 29, and WestJet responded with its own lockout notice, meaning either side could trigger a work stoppage once the window opens. Canada’s federal labour minister said talks were “progressing” as the deadline approached, though no agreement had been announced as of Friday.
At the center of the dispute is how WestJet pays attendants for time spent on the ground: boarding, deplaning, and delays between flights. The union says the airline’s credit-hour system leaves as much as 35 hours of monthly work unpaid, a structure it argues undervalues cabin crew relative to peers at other North American carriers. WestJet has not disclosed the specifics of its latest counteroffer, but says it wants a deal that avoids disruption for the millions of passengers who fly the airline each summer.
WestJet has already begun contingency planning. The carrier is offering travelers booked between July 30 and August 4 a one-time free change or cancellation, and it has signaled it could scale back its schedule if a strike begins. Given WestJet’s size as Canada’s second-largest airline, a work stoppage would ripple well beyond its own network, complicating connections for travelers routed through Calgary, Toronto, and Vancouver during the last weekend of peak summer travel.
The standoff echoes last August’s three-day strike by Air Canada’s flight attendants, which was resolved after federal intervention and an arbitrated wage settlement earlier this year. Travelers with WestJet bookings around August 2 should monitor the airline’s app and website directly, since a strike could be called with only hours of notice once the deadline passes.
Sources: LoyaltyLobby, Global News
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