International Courant
Canadian airline WestJet has began canceling some flights forward of a strike by plane upkeep technicians, saying it needs to forestall passengers and planes being stranded if a strike happens.
WestJet mentioned it anticipated to cancel about 40 flights from Tuesday to Wednesday, impacting 6,500 passengers. As of Wednesday afternoon Japanese Time, the airline had canceled 20 flights, or 4% of its schedule, after canceling 5 flights on Tuesday, in line with monitoring service FlightAware.
The low-cost provider mentioned it was looking for different preparations for patrons whose flights had been cancelled.
WestJet and the Plane Mechanics Fraternal Affiliation are engaged in negotiations for an preliminary collective bargaining settlement for about 680 mechanics.
Earlier this week, WestJet requested the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to order each events to enter into binding arbitration. The union responded by informing the airline on Thursday night of its intention to strike except the corporate returns to the bargaining desk in Calgary this week.
Diederik Pen, the airline’s president, mentioned the corporate’s newest contract supply would have made WestJet upkeep technicians among the many highest paid in Canada and elevated their take-home pay by 30% to 40% inside a yr.
The union says the airline is attempting to implement a contract that its members rejected with 97.5% of the vote, and that low wages are stopping WestJet from filling open positions.
WestJet was based within the Nineties and modeled after Southwest Airways within the US. It’s Canada’s second largest airline.
Canadian airline WestJet begins canceling flights as technicians threaten to strike
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