Canada’s WestJet said today it has not cancelled flights or started winding down operations and sees progress in talks, hours after its flight attendants gave 72-hour notice for a strike during the busy summer travel season. Cabin crew at the Calgary-based carrier, owned by Onex Corp, could strike as early as Aug. 2, if talks fail to produce an agreement over a dispute on unpaid work, the Canadian Union of Public Employees said.
WestJet also issued a 72-hour lockout notice. Yet later, the carrier sounded more optimistic.
“We remain encouraged by the progress we have made in addressing the union’s stated priorities,” the country’s second-largest carrier said in a statement. “There is no operational impact at this time, and we are optimistic that a tentative agreement can be reached prior to guest travel disruption.”
The union is asking for cabin crew to be paid from the time they check in to when they clock out, which is not currently the case.
Labor tensions at the carrier, which has a domestic market share of about 30%, follow a four-day strike by flight attendants last August at larger rival Air Canada that stranded half a million passengers.
That strike highlighted broader efforts by flight attendants in Canada and the U.S. to challenge a compensation structure that mostly pays cabin crew when an aircraft is in motion.
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The Canadian government had intervened to stop the strike, which was later defied by Air Canada’s flight attendants.
The office of federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said in a statement that it expected the two sides “can and should come to an agreement at the bargaining table.”
The government appointed a special mediator earlier this month to help the union and airline in their talks, it said.
The union also asked the Canadian government to not intervene in the process.
“We’ve been clear from the start that we want to reach a fair deal without a strike,” said Alia Hussain, president of the local CUPE union that represents WestJet flight attendants.
CUPE, which represents flight attendants at both Air Canada and WestJet, is also seeking higher overall compensation, and said that younger members have been struggling financially when working in higher-cost cities like Toronto.