Achi news desk-
WestJet Encore pilots could go on strike as soon as April 17 after they approved a strike mandate on Tuesday, raising the possibility of headwinds after a bumpy year for the airline’s owner.
Aviators at regional carrier WestJet voted 97 percent in favor of authorizing a strike after contract negotiations over pay, schedules and career progression came to “almost a standstill,” the Air Line Pilots Association said. About 89 percent of pilots cast a ballot.
“What that signals to me is that our pilots are frustrated,” said Carin Kenny, who heads the union’s WestJet Encore contingent.
The 355 pilots it represents can walk off the tarmac 72 hours after union leadership files a strike notice. The job action or lockout can only happen after a 21-day cooling-off period that began when federal conciliation between the two sides ended last week.
WestJet Encore employs the lowest-paid regional pilots in Canada, driving some to look for jobs elsewhere, Kenny said.
The pilot shortage she says persists at Encore makes the jump to WestJet’s higher-paying mainline operation a rare feat, as its roughly 35 De Havilland Dash 8-400 turboprop aircraft require flight crew. in the regional service.
“At the moment, nobody is coming in, especially in the captain’s ranks,” Kenny said. “We’re not replacing them, and the captains are generally the ones with the seniority to move over to WestJet. It’s kind of a revolving door of trying to fix that.”
Encore is recruiting newer pilots, he qualified. “But the problem is they don’t stay. They get their experience and then they go somewhere else – to Porter or Jazz or Air Canada or Flair. Some go abroad.”
WestJet Airlines president Diederik Pen said the strike authorization vote marked a common step by unions in the context of labor negotiations.
“We are firm in our commitment to reach an agreement with ALPA that addresses the unique concerns of our Encore pilots, is competitive within the Canadian airline industry and ensures that we have a long-term sustainable future as the we can continue to operate essential air service for millions of Canadians, while providing meaningful employment for thousands in the WestJet Group,” Pen said in a statement.
The airline narrowly avoided a strike last year after negotiations with a different set of pilots came down to the wire, prompting the carrier to cancel more than 230 flights in preparation for job action ahead of hours deal before the deadline.
The collective agreement gave pilots at WestJet and its subsidiary Swoop – but not WestJet Encore – a 24 percent pay boost over four years.
WestJet announced in June last year that it would be discontinuing the five-year-old Swoop and folding the budget airline’s operations under its main banner.
The potential labor unrest comes as Canada’s second-largest carrier faces indefinite delays on dozens of new plane deliveries after a panel blowout on a Boeing 737 Max plane in January pushed back certification for the Max 10 as the planemaker United States challenged more scrutiny from regulators. .
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on April 2, 2024.
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