The surprise decision by Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association’s (AMFA) to proceed with a strike beginning on the evening of Friday, June 28 has forced WestJet to abruptly cancel numerous flights at the start of the busy Canada Day long weekend.
In a news release issued shortly before 2 am ET on Saturday, June 29, WestJet announced it is cancelling over 150 flights scheduled for Saturday.
These are deemed to be the initial cancellations due to the strike of aircraft maintenance engineers. The airline states that additional cancellations are expected by Saturday morning if the strike is not called off.
This is in addition to the roughly 25 flight cancellations earlier this week between Thursday, June 27 and Friday, June 28, after the union issued a second strike notice. These earlier cancellations before the weekend impacted about 3,300 passengers.
The airline is advising passengers to check the status of their flight before arriving at the airport.
In a bulletin on Friday evening, AMFA gave almost no notice ahead of its strike starting at 7:30 pm ET on the same day . The airline and passengers are now caught off guard, as the strike was previously called off on Thursday, June 27 after the federal government’s intervention in the labour dispute.
At the time, federal Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to assist the airline and the AMFA to reach their first collective agreement. Furthermore, the Minister directed the CIRB to impose final binding arbitration to resolve outstanding terms of the collective agreement.
An initial statement by WestJet on Friday evening noted that severe travel disruptions can be expected if the strike is not called off immediately, with the airline sharing that “the network takedown can no longer happen in the orderly manner that WestJet had originally planned.”
“A strike serves no one, as this negotiation has already been referred to binding arbitration,” said Diederik Pen, president of WestJet and Group Chief Operating Officer, in a statement early Saturday morning.
“We know how painful this is for our guests and our people; however, we must start the immediate and safe parking or our aircraft. The scale of this deliberate disruption is devastating and AMFA must be held accountable for their reckless actions.”
Pen is calling on the federal government to immediately intervene in the escalation to prevent further disruptions.
“Without immediate intervention, significant disruption will unnecessarily harm tens of thousands of Canadians along with the entire economic ecosystem that depends on our critical air service,” he continued.