WestJet reaches tentative deal with flight attendants after strike snarled weekend traffic

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Canada’s second largest airline, WestJet, has agreed to a tentative agreement with flight attendants to end a strike that led to hundreds of flight cancellations and thousands of stranded passengers over the weekend.

The union representing the flight attendants said Monday that if the deal is ratified, the work that flight attendants do before flights take off will be recognized.

The union, CUPE 8125, said that flight attendants will be returning to work now that the strike is over. The tentative agreement still faces a ratification vote.

WestJet canceled 495 flights Sunday, snarling travel plans in Canada in the middle of a long holiday weekend.

A key issue in the dispute was how flight attendants should be paid for duties performed while still on the ground. The union said some of that work is unpaid, while the company said that staff was indeed compensated, citing pay through a “credit hour” system rather than an hourly rate.

“This tentative agreement represents meaningful progress,” CUPE 8125 President Alia Hussain said in a statement. “It evolves the flight credit system by recognizing more of the work cabin crew are required to perform and with general increases to compensation for that work.”

The Canadian Union of Public Employees represents the 4,400 cabin crew at the airline.

The deal comes after 250,000 travelers had their trips canceled, according to WestJet. Some struggled to find accommodations while they were stranded away from home, and others were left unable to reschedule flights.

“We are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement that reflects the hard work and professionalism of our cabin crew,” WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said in a statement. “We know this disruption has been frustrating for our guests and WestJetters and we’re sorry for that. Our teams are working hard to restore service and get our guests on their way to their destinations as quickly as possible and we appreciate everyone’s patience as we get back to normal.”

Before the strike began, WestJet had made a proposal that included a 13% wage increase in October, increases of 2.5% each January for the next three years, retroactive wage payment to last January, additional pay for all hours worked, and upgrades to other benefits, according to WestJet. Hussain had said that although negotiators tried until the very last minute to get a fair deal, what the airline proposed didn’t go far enough.

Hussain said at a news conference in Calgary on Monday that the proposed deal addresses the issue of duties performed on the ground.

John Gradek, a faculty lecturer on aviation management at McGill University in Montreal, said that with the federal government watching and hundreds of thousands of passengers already affected by the dispute, both sides felt the urgency to get a deal done.

“There was a lot of pressure,” Gradek said. “The Sword of Damocles was hanging over them. They had to basically cut a deal, otherwise the wrath both of Canadians as well as the government would be a very difficult cross to bear.”

Whether the agreement gets ratified depends on if the union membership is satisfied with what was reached on the work flight attendants do before takeoff, he said.

He expects it will take until Wednesday for WestJet to have all its planes and flights back. The airline will then face the huge backlog of passengers affected by the dispute.

Last summer, flight attendants at Air Canada, the country’s largest carrier, stranded more than 100,000 travelers during peak travel season with a strike partly over the same issue of unpaid groundwork. That work stoppage lasted three days before the sides came to an agreement.

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AP reporters Jim Morris and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.