WestJet flight attendants hold a day of action, while union members vote on a possible strike in Calgary on Tuesday.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
More than 4,000 WestJet flight attendants have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike, setting up potential flight cancellations and delays on the August long weekend during peak summer travel season.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 8125, which represents 4,400 WestJet flight attendants, announced the results of the vote on Wednesday morning, with 99.4 per cent of members voting in favour of a strike.
The union had held a strike vote this past week, after months of negotiations with the airline failed to yield any significant movement on a key issue: ground pay for flight attendants. Based on the results of the vote, flight attendants could legally walk off the job as early as Aug. 2. The union will still have to give WestJet 72 hours’ notice if it does intend to launch a strike.
In a statement announcing the vote results, Alia Hussain, president of CUPE 8125, said that her members were united and determined, and called on the airline to return to bargaining “with a new focus.”
“They voted to strike because they stand behind the bargaining priorities that they have identified, especially pay for all hours of work performed. WestJet should do the right thing and prevent travel disruptions for their passengers,” she said.
In a recent interview with The Globe and Mail, Ms. Hussain had said that WestJet flight attendants would strike if they do not get ground pay in a new contract. “We’re looking for a long-term restructuring of the compensation system that will bring us on par with other airlines like Air Canada, which won ground pay for their flight attendants last year,” she told The Globe at the time.
CUPE has been bargaining with the Calgary-based carrier for a new collective agreement since last October after its previous agreement expired on Dec. 31, 2025. In Wednesday’s statement, the union said that the strike vote became necessary “to move the process forward at the bargaining table.”
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Ground pay is the key sticking point. As it stands, WestJet flight attendants only get compensated when the plane is in the air. In other words, they do not get paid for work they do in the airport or on the plane before it actually departs. They also do not get paid for work done after the plane lands.
The unpaid work that flight attendants perform caused a stalemate in last year’s negotiations between CUPE and Air Canada flight attendants. That labour dispute made headlines last August, when striking flight attendants defied a back-to-work order issued by the federal government and continued striking for three days. The disruption grounded domestic and international flights, and ultimately culminated in CUPE brokering a tentative deal with Air Canada, which for the first time awarded flight attendants partial ground pay.