WestJet flight attendants hit the picket lines outside Winnipeg’s Richardson International Airport on Sunday morning after the airline and union couldn’t reach a new contract deal by the strike deadline.
Workers officially walked off the job on Sunday after the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) issued a 72-hour strike notice on Thursday. WestJet responded with its own lockout notice.
The union represents about 240 WestJet flight attendants in Winnipeg and thousands more across Canada.
The dispute revolves around pay, with CUPE arguing that its members aren’t being fairly compensated and are doing unpaid work on the ground before planes take off.
The work stoppage has led to hundreds of flight cancellations for the country’s second-largest air carrier over the weekend, including in Manitoba’s capital.
Nearly two dozen flights leaving Richardson were cancelled on Sunday, according to the departures page on the airport’s website.
Tim Altayev, who drove from Winkler to drop his friend off at the airport on Sunday morning, was worried they wouldn’t be able to reach their final destination of Frankfurt, Germany, after their flight from Winnipeg to Toronto was cancelled.
“It’s a long way to travel just to be disappointed,” he said of the trek from Winkler, about 100 kilometres southwest of the capital.
Nearly 2 dozen flights scheduled to leave Winnipeg’s Richardson International Airport were cancelled on Sunday. (Travis Golby/CBC)
But WestJet’s phone lines were slammed on Sunday, and other airlines’ phone lines were hard to reach as well, because of the high volume of passengers trying to book alternative flights.
WestJet customers told CBC News that they were being turned away from kiosks at the airport and were told to call the airline to rebook.
“It’s really impossible to reach WestJet at this point and nobody knows what’s going on and how long it’s going to last here,” Altayev said.
“It’s been very stressful and it’s really hard to find a flight now because all the other airlines are overbooked and the flights are really expensive,” he said, adding his friend was able to get on a Porter Airlines flight to Toronto but it was still unclear if they could get a connecting flight to Frankfurt.
A handful of WestJet planes were parked at Winnipeg’s Richardson International Airport on Sunday, as flights were cancelled amid a flight attendant strike. (Robin Summerfield/CBC)
Danely Hernandez said she’s not sure when her family can go home to Cancun, Mexico. They’re planning to stay at the airport for now.
“We are here without [a] flight and without money. Our first flight was yesterday and they told us that today it’s going to be OK. Then we … got here and now [we] don’t have [a] flight,” Hernandez said.
She said she’s been told she can book a ticket with another airline but she’s worried about how much that would cost. The situation has been stressful on her and her children, who just want to return home, she said.
WestJet said in a Sunday news release that “all impacted guests will be refunded or reaccommodated, as applicable.”
Passengers that booked directly through the airline will get email updates, while those who booked through a travel agent or third-party platform should call them directly, WestJet said.
In a related travel advisory, the airline said travellers with cancelled flights will be rebooked on the next available flight, including flights with other airlines. Passengers can also request refunds, the release said.
Anyone who plans to travel on Sunday or the following days is encouraged to check their flight status before heading to the airport, WestJet said.
The airline said that while WestJet flights were cancelled as of midnight, WestJet Encore flights are still running.
Striking WestJet flight attendants on the picket line outside Winnipeg’s Richardson International Airport on Sunday. (Travis Golby/CBC)
The Calgary-based airline and the union was still at the bargaining table as flight attendants walked off the job on Sunday.
Outside Richardson, workers held signs with slogans like “Frustrated with WestJet? So are we!” and “Unpaid work won’t fly!”
“Our goal is to see an end to unpaid work,” Gina McKay, president of CUPE Manitoba, told CBC News near the picket line on Sunday.
“There’s no job in this country that should be unpaid when you’re putting in hours.”