A WestJet aircraft parks at Calgary International Airport on Thursday, three days ahead of a potential flight attendants' strike.Amir Salehi/The Globe and Mail
WestJet and the union representing more than 4,000 of its flight attendants continue to be in tense negotiations as 81 flights were cancelled Saturday ahead of a looming Sunday strike deadline.
An internal e-mail from a senior WestJet executive to cabin crew sent midday Friday and obtained by The Globe and Mail states that the WestJet negotiating team was “deeply disappointed” that they were unable to reach an agreement with the union as of Friday even after they put their best offer forward.
“Your union was unable to accept an offer that we believe would have represented a transformative step forward for cabin crew at WestJet and established a new benchmark within the Canadian airline industry,” read the e-mail sent by Robert Antoniuk, vice-president of in-flight operations, to flight attendants.
Earlier on Friday, WestJet began parking its Boeing 737 aircraft to prepare for the potential strike. Airlines usually take this proactive measure to minimize the risk of guests and aircraft getting stranded. The Calgary-based carrier has advised customers to check the status of their flights prior to leaving the airport and is allowing those travelling between July 30 and Aug. 4 to make a one-time change or cancellation at no additional cost.
The company, which began its first round of cancellations Saturday, said the move is meant to prevent crew and passengers from getting stranded, and travellers should check their flight status before leaving for the airport. More cancellations are planned for the busy long weekend with 21 coming on Sunday and Monday, so far.
CUPE 8125, the local representing WestJet flight attendants, issued a 72-hour strike notice on Thursday, meaning that workers could go on strike as early as 12:01 a.m. Mountain Time on Sunday.
The airline and the union are mainly at odds over hourly wages and ground pay, which is the amount cabin crew get paid before a flight departs and after it has landed.
The union argues that flight attendants effectively do not get paid for pre-boarding work they do, but WestJet disputes that notion, saying that cabin crew do get indirectly compensated for that work through a system known as “credit hours.” A credit-hour rate is a negotiated hourly rate that the airline says accounts for work that flight attendants do on the ground.
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The e-mail details WestJet’s monetary offer to the union.
Specifically, the airline has agreed to a CUPE proposal for pre- and post-boarding compensation through “duty premium payments that supplement the credit system,” and directly addressed union concerns about compensation for every hour of work performed on either side of a flight.
WestJet also agreed to a cumulative wage increase of 36 per cent over four years – which would include the duty premium payments.
“Together, these changes addressed the top issues the union consistently identified as its priorities throughout bargaining. The proposal would have provided meaningful improvements for cabin crew, making us the only airline in Canada to have an hourly rate for everything, while exceeding the total compensation benchmark established in the most recent peer collective agreement,” the e-mail states. “This is why today’s situation is so disappointing,” Mr. Antoniuk wrote.
In an e-mail to the Globe, CUPE 8125 president Alia Hussain said that what WestJet shared in its message was “a small part of a very large contract.”
“We aren’t just bargaining a few things, we are seeking a comprehensive contract that reflects the priorities of our members.” Ms. Hussain added that she is still hopeful a strike can be avoided.
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The wage proposal from WestJet appears to be a greater increase than what Air Canada flight attendants received after they went on strike last summer over similar issues.
Their August, 2025, contract guaranteed junior Air Canada flight attendants an immediate 12 per cent raise, and an additional 8.25 per cent over the remaining three years. More senior flight attendants received 8 per cent in the first year. But the tentative agreement was never ratified by flight attendants, with 99.1 per cent of them rejecting it.
In February, an arbitrator determined the terms of the contract, and maintained the proposed wage increases, much to the disappointment of flight attendants and the CUPE local representing Air Canada cabin crew.
With a report from The Canadian Press