WHAT YOU MIGHT NOT BE HEARING FROM THE MEDIA COVERAGE.
WestJet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AMEs) sought unionization with the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) early last year and the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) granted the union’s application for certification in March of 2023, unionizing 670 employees.
The relationship was rocky from the beginning as once the bargaining unit was certified the union alleged that the employer was guilty of taking items away from the employees such as paid shift releases, travel benefits and other rights. If this was true, it was a clear violation of the Canada Labour Code for punishing employees during what is regularly known as the “freeze period.” The freeze period is intended to protect all terms and conditions of employment during the negotiation process as there cannot be a punishment for expressing their right of Freedom of Association under the Canadian Charter Rights and Freedoms.
BARGAINING SESSIONS
By September of 2023 initial meetings took place between WestJet and AMFA where the union’s negotiating committee identified major concerns with the workplace and ultimately some of the reasons they decided to unionize. They identified that the company did not respect seniority, the irregularities in pay scale and some work privileges were eliminated without notice or rationale.
Many of the union’s proposals were “boilerplate” and quickly agreed to tentatively, however there were serious concerns and discussions around staffing still being below pre-COVID levels causing “levels of fatigue that are detrimental to aviation safety.” These concerns continued into December, when further charges were filed against WestJet for staffing concerns and significant changes to the positions inspecting the aircraft.
Throughout bargaining WestJet has been in the driver’s seat getting closer and closer to a labour dispute. It was the company that put the parties on course for a lockout or strike by filing for mediation with the CIRB. It was also the company that alluded to outsourcing the jobs during the collective bargaining process. However negotiations took a turn for the positive when significant progress was made between the parties resulting in a joint release that resolved some major outstanding issues and a commitment to continue collective bargaining.
It is incumbent on the union to file these charges to establish a trust relationship with their own newly organized members and ensure that fair representation is top of mind for the union. The union has also been provided with survey results and proposals that are important to the membership. This direction from the membership gives a clear understanding of what a fair collective agreement would look like to these 670 employees of WestJet.
“First collective agreements are extremely difficult to negotiate because every word, comma, period and sentence must be negotiated and agreed to by both parties. Most importantly, there isn’t an established relationship between the parties, so there is understandable hesitation to trust the other party. This is only exacerbated with alleged violations of the Canada Labour Code with charges following those allegations.”
Gil McGowan – President of the AFL
This positive step in the right direction quickly dissolved when bargaining commenced later in the month. The employer was unwavering on important issues like wages, premiums, layoff protections, scheduling, weekend work, outsourcing jobs, and even requiring employees to take vacation in 7-day blocks rather than individual days “in order to maximize presence in the workplace.” That meant, for example, if an employee wanted to use vacation for their daughter’s birthday party, they would have to take the entire week off to do so.
Following multiple negotiation dates, the employer decided to further the adversarial approach and delivered a 72-hour lockout notice to the negotiation committee and would commence if the parties did not reach a deal by May 7th. A tentative deal was in fact reached by May 5, 2024, which avoided any work stoppage at that time. Throughout the month of May employees reviewed and discussed the tentative agreement which resulted in an overwhelming rejection of 97.25% of employees stating no with a 99% participation rate.
The union took this direction from their membership seriously. They began immediately providing a survey to their membership to get clear direction from them on what they would need for a fair collective agreement. A 97.25% rejection sends a clear message to an employer that they have missed the mark, this is also incredibly important when looking at the participation rate. These employees are involved in their union and are affected deeply by the negotiations of their first collective agreement.
“Members were particularly bitter with the bad faith at the negotiating table. For months at a time, WestJet refused to respond to Union proposals. Frequently, WestJet rejected our proposals without an explanation or with the disdainful rationale that AMEs were not entitled to the same benefits or work rules as pilots. The airline violated the status quo mandated by the Canada Labour Code by outsourcing maintenance work and reducing benefits. WestJet’s lack of respect for its AMEs contributed mightily to the contract rejection.”
Bret Oestreich – AMFA National President
The employer’s response? Cancel scheduled bargaining dates and request the Canadian government to impose a collective agreement on the workplace rather than negotiate a deal between the parties.
The employees are in fact looking for industry-changing terms and conditions, however, that is because many of the employees working for WestJet as an AME have sought employment elsewhere. A collective agreement that provides protection and fair terms and conditions to these employees would result in less turnover, less overtime, and less costs to the employer for training. Some of these proposals are, no question, monetary in nature, however many of the rejected union proposals are simply due to an idealistic approach that clearly is not addressing the concerns of the employees. Additionally, some of the proposals are directed at safety for WestJet’s customer base, which would only benefit WestJet. Employees are proud of the work that they do and want to do their best job possible, but they are in need of staff to make that happen.
HOW IS THIS AFFECTING CUSTOMERS?
The concerns around staffing issues were front and centre from the AMEs and their union. These were raised just before January when the tragic event where bolts on door plugs were left off of Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes causing the plug to fail and the door to fly off mid-flight. Although WestJet does not have this specific plane in their fleet, they do have 32 of the MAX 8 planes with another 62 737 MAX planes on order.
It was just this week that Boeing’s CEO Dave Calhoun testified regarding the 346 people who died in 2018 and 2019 where he refuses to step down, while also shocking the U.S. senate by stating that he was “proud of every action we’ve taken.”
It is troubling that at a time of distrust with Boeing and air safety, WestJet is not investing in the last line of defence for their customers. We have heard on the media of the potential impacts that customers may face by the cancellations of 40 flights on June 18th and June 19th, but the union seems to be the only one concerned about the customer safety. Last month WestJet boasted about it 99% “Completion Factor” but that has only taken place due to questionable planes in operation because of “the decline in the airline’s maintenance standards.”
If customers knew how many planes there are currently in the air that are deemed “airworthy” but are at a lower level of safety because of WestJet’s lack of interest in high safety standards, they would be appalled. There are currently 257 planes operating with Minimum Equipment Lists, which are inoperable equipment on planes that can technically still be airworthy. In one year alone that list grew from 101 planes in May 2023 to the current 257 planes in May of 2024.
WestJet customers received updates on June 19th and June 20th about the status of collective bargaining and potential impacts of their upcoming flights. These updates are not only concerning, but misleading. They do not mention that WestJet applied for mediation, the first step towards a labour dispute, they do not mention about the last tentative agreement being due to WestJet’s threat of a lock-out, and they do not mention that they refused to bargain with the union by cancelling this week’s collective bargaining dates.
WestJet cancelled and consolidated their flights for no reason. The union’s bargaining committee was ready to negotiate with the company and already prepared documents to exchange. The impact on WestJet’s customers was solely because of WestJet’s decision during the collective bargaining process. The CIRB has ultimately made the right decision to force the employer to continue with collective bargaining as intended. We hope the parties can reach an agreement without a dispute, but that will only happen if both parties are willing to be fair during the process.
WestJet can do better; WestJet should do better.
To see all articles relating to the negotiations from the AMFA’s perspective, see them at https://www.amfanational.org/?zone=/unionactive/view_page.cfm&page=WestJet