Good news for airline passengers who are flying with WestJet, a strike has been averted between the company and the aircraft mechanics’s union after both sides were able to agree to a deal.
Over the weekend, the union representing aircraft maintenance engineers received a 72-hour lockout notice from WestJet, prompting fears of upcoming flight cancellations, which could have been brought in as early as Tuesday. WestJet said the move was because the union was showing up to the bargaining table with “unreasonable demands.”
But late Sunday night, Diederik Pen, WestJet’s president and group chief operating officer, said they were able to come back to the table. Once the ink has dried on the deal, the aircraft mechanics will be the highest-paid in Canada.
“We are grateful to have arrived at a deal, averting a work stoppage and any impact to our guests’ valued travel plans. We sincerely appreciate our guests’ patience during this time and are pleased to move forward with an unwavering focus to providing friendly, reliable and affordable air service to Canadians for years to come, as one unified team,” Pen said.
It ends nine months of negotiations between the two sides.
“[We] are proud to have reached a tentative agreement that will now be presented, through the ratification process, to the hard working Aircraft Maintenance Engineers and other Technical Operations employees who go above and beyond to maintain a best-in-class culture of safety for the WestJet Group,” said Will Abbott, AMFA national region II director and chairman.
With files from Beth Rochester