March 8, 2024

Participants for AMFA:
Will Abbott – Region II Director
Ian Evershed –Airline Representative
Simon Weizman – Member-at-Large Negotiator
Lee Seham – Legal Counsel
Samuel Seham – Legal Counsel

Participants for WestJet Airlines:
Virginia Swindall – Senior Manager, Labour Relations
Alex Hunt – Corporate Counsel – Labour Relations
John Romane – Person Responsible for Maintenance
Sarah Iverson – Labour Relations Advisor
Sara Nuhn – Lead Coordinator, Tech-ops
Darren Cook – Line Maintenance Manager

The AMFA-WestJet Negotiating Committee (the “Committee”) is providing this update to the Membership at WestJet, an Alberta Partnership (“WestJet”). This is the only official, authorized source of negotiating communications.

On March 5-7, 2024, WestJet and AMFA representatives met in Toronto, to continue negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement. AMFA Region II Director Will Abbott and WestJet Senior Manager, Labour Relations Virginia Swindall led negotiations.  The negotiations took place against the backdrop of an extraordinary promise made by WestJet, the fulfillment of which is increasingly doubtful.

Virginia Swindall, by email dated February 1, 2024, to AMFA and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) declined to confirm negotiation dates beyond April 4, but advised, “it is our intention to have a tentative agreement for the Union to recommend to its members not later than April 13.”

However, to date, tentative agreements (TA) have been reached on just eleven articles out of what the parties anticipate will be, at minimum, a fifty-article collective bargaining agreement.  Twenty-four articles previously exchanged remain open, and at least fifteen articles have not even been exchanged.   All this despite the fact that WestJet’s unilateral petition to the FMCS places the parties on a schedule that would permit a strike or lockout as early as April 17, 2024.

During the March 5-7 negotiations, the parties exchanged proposals with respect to the following articles: Health and Safety, Filling of Vacancies, Training, Leaves of Absence, Hotel and Transportation, Field Service, Uniforms, and Purpose.  The only TA reached was on the Purpose article.

To date, WestJet has still not presented proposals addressing wages, schedules, or job security. Still more inauspiciously, the Company persists in its refusal to withdraw a Classifications proposal that would eliminate the Aircraft Maintenance Lead (AML) and Inspector Crew Lead (ICL) positions. AMFA has determined that, as long the Union charges are still pending before the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), it will oppose any operational integration with Sunwing.

Thank you to the many observers who attended this week’s sessions. Stay engaged, remain informed, and continue to support the Negotiating Committee as that support increases the ability to bargain a collective agreement your hard work deserves. Your AMFA representatives will provide regular updates throughout the negotiating process.  Thank you for your support.

Fraternally,

AMFA-WestJet Negotiating Committee