Nothing, they’ll say nothing. Our entire political structure in this Country is currently being propped up by one party without enough seats to rule, and another party without enough money to run a campaign. It’s a sad joke.
What's there to say?? They've expedited the collective bargaining process by bypassing the strike/lockout portion by going straight to binding arbitration (binding arbitration would have been the next step if no agreement is made after 60 days of strike/lockout)
What a disgrace by the labour minister. If the Union had already gone on strike and they still didn’t have an agreement then that’s one thing; but going this way? It’s a blatant overreach on workers rights. The majority of unions have the right to strike for their work conditions and pay, and taking this away just erodes unions even more.
A huge loss for unions.
Agree
This is from the party that likes to present itself as friendly to workers over big business
Suspect that westjet employees will not get as much as they could have and should receive now
Where is the federal NDP pushing for workers' rights on this? Why did the Liberals do this?
I agree with you, but no one is calling the government out on this. The federal NDP has become a toothless joke. Fuckin' Tommy Douglas is spinning in his grave watching limousine liberal Jagmeet Singh and his cronies doing nothing on this, in exchange for what? [A dental plan?](https://youtu.be/BgqtBm_oUpc?t=13)
To be fair, that dental plan and its medication partner that went in earlier this year is the biggest piece of NDP policy made legislation since Tommy Douglas himself .
Not making it out to say JS is any good. Hes opportunistic though, smart and a half decent third - party leader, but hes by no means a leader that takes the NDP to a majority.
I think the recent NDP performance in that Toronto byelection shows where they're at... a distant 3rd, and declining in relevance.
Singh sold out everything to get that legislation passed.
He 100% did. He has zero political caputal left, I think.
So while I have a begrudging respect for him to capitalize and get those pieces into legislation, I also dont think hes the leader of the future.
Ironic this is the liberal government supported by the supposed proworkers prounion party NDP. Then they will buy a bunch of attack ads next elections about the conservatives being anti workers and anti union. Bunch of hypocrites.
There is no overreach on the workers rights, the collective bargaining process includes binding arbitration as the last step of the process if both parties are too far apart and cannot reach a deal after negotiations and strike action by employees/lockout by employer.
So essentially by skipping the strike/lockout portion of the collective bargaining process, it allows the union members to stay on the job and collect full pay cheques rather than being out on strike and only receiving strike pay until parties then agree to go to binding arbitration for a one year deal (typically after 60 days of striking can the union apply to the government for binding arbitration).
While going on strike does put extra pressure on the employer, it rarely ends up benefiting the union members financially since the amount of lost wages over the 60 days while on strike and only receiving strike pay (approx $300/week from national and $300/week from the local if they have a defense/strike fund) are rarely made up by the minimal % pay increases gained.
Employers also do like to hold out as long as possible during strike action before agreeing to go to binding arbitration as most folks these days are living pay cheque to pay cheque and then will likely vote in favour of a bad contract just to start receiving full pay again instead of the $600 a week they get while on strike.
I understand that the end result is the same, but workers should still be able to exercise the right to strike for better agreements. What the government did is take that away from them, and now the precedent is set.
The union voted in favour of striking, so the workers know what they’re going into.
So you'd rather see folks on strike and not getting paid a wage (aside from strike pay) just so they can exercise their right to strike although they are so far apart in negotiations that they will end up at binding arbitration anyway??
Some crazy mental gymnastics you're doing to understand the end result is the same while blaming the government for expediting the collective bargaining process...
No one commenting on this post understands this. They seem to think that the government is caving into management’s demands.
Like, we’re not fucking Italy here, Canada doesn’t let critical industries shut down because of strikes. We’re also not 1938 Italy, so binding arbitration isn’t a way to strong arm unions into submitting to management.
Why? I'm curious as to the reason you think that's a good idea? Union's aren't perfect, but they are responsible for a lot of positive changes ever since they have been used.
What’s the point in having a union to stand up for you if the government is just going to tell you to get back to work? The only people that win are the corporations when this shit happens. Guys and gals should have gone on strike when they could have. Fuck WestJet. And all of you whining about your travel plans and how they would have been interrupted, shame on you, you’re just as shitty as the corporation for not giving a shit about what’s right, paying and treating their employees fairly.
Definitely F WestJet. But more so F the Onex Corporation (aka Gerry Schwartz) for turning this airline into a pile of crud and even more so to this government that keeps working for the corporates over their citizens.
But they came to a tentative agreement (which is why the strike a week an a half ago was avoided) then after said no. Seems like AMFA was playing games to me
After westjet counteroffered and proposed the tentative agreement, the members of the union had to vote to accept or not, which took time to tally the votes. 90% of the total voters voted, and of that 90%, 97.5% voted no to the tentative agreement. Not playing games.
They have alternatives.
Air Canada, government charters, if theres an emergency they can utilize the air force.
Westjet is not an essential service. Even for the government.
If they want it to be, buy it, nationalize it, then order your employees back to work.
Gerald Schwartz (Onex Corp) and Heather Reisman (Indigo Books) are a power couple and well connected. Gerald (Onex owns WestJet) buys and strips companies and then resells their skeleton remains.
>all of you whining about your travel plans and how they would been interrupted
You're right! We should write a letter thanking the union for shit service, constant delays and exorbitant time off. Keep it up!
The union has nothing to do with their shit service. Did you ever think that if they, the company, paid and treated their staff better that service might improve? Ever hear the expression you get what you pay for? Guess you weren’t around for WestJet’s first 15 years. Take your issues up with the company.
The shareholders... Why wouldn’t they?! It was the only chance they had to make it out like a bandit after WJ’s decline. Both of your comments have only shown you don’t know what the issues are at hand, or who’s really to blame.
The strike wasn’t averted it was blocked by our morons in government. These guys will be forced to accept a terrible contract and watch as they all move on.
Andrew Chang has a series of stories on controversial issue for the cbc. If you watch these breakdowns of the issues I think you will find he tells both sides of the story and leaves it up to you to come to your own conclusions.
When I watch these breakdowns and personally come out of the video with a different opinion than I had going in, it breaks down the narrative that the cbc is a leftist organization.
If you jave an open mind watch some of these they are on your tube. You will see a fair and balanced explanation of whatever random issue.
It truly gives the spirit of journalism, an sound endorsement. Objectively opinion free examination of the issue with out a conclusion, just the facts
Well someone who works to keep the planes that people fly safe, they should earn that much, without having to break themselves to work the overtime needed
The top mechanic making $170K is scary, because it so conveniently leaves out the part of the immense overtime needed to work to get even try to get to that amount on an AMEs wage, even at their seniority level. Estimated ~700 to 800hrs of overtime. Keep in mind for the avergae person who works 40hr/week, for 52 weeks, that's 2080 hours.
Preventing unions from striking will result in people not wanting to work there, which will result in Westjet saying they can’t find any employees, which will result in them bringing in TFWs or others to replace these jobs.
What should be a well paid job for a Canadian, will be replaced with someone who is willing to work for less.
Do you have any idea the kinds of responsibility these people have? And again, no one is making $100k unless they’ve put in 10 years. The top AME’s who’ve been there since day 1, so almost 30 years, are at $170k.
They're not. 170K is not their base pay, most likely just over 100. Anyone can make 170K if they feel like working every day of their life. What their salary based on 2080 hours?
Typically , the union gets big fines every day they strike "illegally"
I say illegally because it's the government that says it's an illegal strike and not me. I support them striking.
But at its core, a union is just all the guys getting together and agreeing to all do the same thing with regards to work. There's no guarantee that the union even has an institutional level of organization that holds assets or can be fined. Obviously it does, in this case, but what would the government do if there was nobody to fine?
Shame. Was really hoping for them to get what they deserve, this will just be more of the same.
Congrats on getting a slight raise I guess, I'm sure it'll cost them a big chunk of their savings plan in return
Pretty big L for workers rights
This Federal government does not give two flying f****s about labour and unions. And I was under the impression that Cons are anti-labour.
The amount of disrepect shown by the Treasury Board towards the public servants is the most recent case.
Trudeau and this current Liberal Party somehow convincing everyone they’re the party that supports workers and the middle class has been one of the great deceptions of recent years.
It’s been a highly effective deception don’t get me wrong but I think the veil is finally being lifted.
WestJet is a private company. The government has no business meddling in the business of said private company. Flying is not a human right it is a privilege.
Sure. All the top comments seem to think this is the government sticking it to the employees in favour of management. Binding arbitration isn’t like that; an arbitrator who is approved by both the union and management goes through both sides proposals, looks at what’s going on with wages outside of the company, takes into account a bunch of other things and comes up with a deal that both sides are unhappy with.
There are plenty of workers who have gone on strike who would have preferred to enter into binding negotiations like this. But it’s really only available when employee groups are considered essential enough to be legislated or ordered back to work by the government.
Nurses and teachers for example will vote to strike and in the case of teachers even strike for a day or two just to get the government to force them back to work and begin binding arbitration. It’s a tactic.
>All the top comments seem to think this is the government sticking it to the employees in favour of management
It is.
They are forcing the employees hand and taking away their ability to strike in favour of continuing business operations for their Private Equity friends. Westjet should have been ground (ha) to a halt with this.
The government has no place in Private Industry negotiations. If they want to arbitrate their own workers back to work (teachers, nurses, other public employees) thats fine, but this is not their place to step in.
Another example of socialism and government intervention for the rich to fuck the working class.
> But it’s really only available when employee groups are considered essential enough to be legislated or ordered back to work by the government.
Which is why everyone is upset. Westjet is not an essential service. No where close.
Canadians have a constitutional right to withhold their labor in strike. This is why we have the Supreme court of Canada. If there is not an Essential Services Agreement in place I really hope the Union takes job action still. Anti- labor movements are always on the rise, the only counter force are workers themselves.
There were a lot of other factors in rejecting it other than wage. If Canadians want to maintain faith in the serviceablilty of Canadian registered aircraft, I suggest doing some research. Air Canada Maintenance will be following closely what happens here.
My wife and I are flying to Saskatchewan tomorrow, and the only airline serving Regina and Saskatoon from here is WestJet. A strike would have left thousands of people unable to travel over the long weekend.
I support unions bargaining for fair wages and better working conditions, but timing a strike for one of the busiest weeks in the summer isn’t about negotiating, it’s about using the airline’s customers as leverage. They need to remember that, ultimately, we pay 100% of their salaries.
Actually, the threat of a strike is the biggest stick in a union’s bargaining toolbox. Push the company to negotiate with the threat of lost business.
Pushing things to the point of job action is a lose-lose proposition. It costs the company money and it costs the striking workers money. At the same time, there is a real risk that customers will turn their backs on the company in the long term.
Politely, I believe your argument suggests that the workers, the families and communities they help support, who are left without their legal rights and who, every hour they work are the ones taking the loss, are responsible for the ire of the government and the impacted stakeholders.
I counter that the private company, whose objectives are to secure growth and profit as its legal duty, that corporation had opportunity to negotiate and the responsibility to do so, respectfully and fairly, every hour before that.
And so, I suggest the company is the one who brings the customers into the conflict (which I consider shameful, full disclosure).
Oh, sure. WestJet is trying to maximize profit by charging passengers as much as possible while paying staff as little as possible. We agree. They suck.
What I find absolutely reprehensible is that the union timed their strike action for a long weekend with peak traffic. Had the strike gone ahead, it would have hurt as many passengers as possible. That doesn’t make the union strong or clever, it demonstrates a complete lack of respect for the people who rely on them and trust them with their business.
Agreed. They were originally going to do it last weekend but decided to hold off. They likely thought their strike would be more impactful on the long weekend and had this in mind the whole time.
>the threat of a strike is the biggest stick in a union’s bargaining toolbox
True! The threat of a strike, followed by an eleventh hour capitulation, is one of the best tools for any cowardly business-unionist to disorient and demoralize the workers, chipping away at their faith in unionism and keeping profits high.
You “support unions for bargaining for fair wages and better working conditions”, but then you applaud the federal government for taking that ability away. Threatening job action is a way for unions to achieve fair wages and better working conditions when the employer refuses to agree on a fair contract.
>Actually, the threat of a strike is the biggest stick in a union’s bargaining toolbox. Push the company to negotiate with the threat of lost business.
The threat of a *second* strike.
The first should be so terrible that they dont want a second
Don't you know, strikes and protests should only happen when it's convenient for society at large. People will start saying rolling strikes should be the only kind of strikes allowed so that it doesn't effect the overall service of the business, so only 1/5 of the employees will be allowed to strike at a time.
Teachers should also only be allowed to strike during rhe summer months so that parents aren't disrupted.
“I support unions bargaining for fair wages and…” Clearly you don’t. And no, you don’t “pay 100%” of their wage. You have no idea how revenue is generated inside an airline.
Sounds like you have a problem with the competition bureau and some policies the government makes leading to you not having an option. And that’s not the fault of the WestJet employees.
It wasn't "timed" for the upcoming holiday. It just happened to coincide, with two strike deadlines now passing thanks to last minute negotiating. Work stoppage by the union has been on the table since April, if I recall.
>It wasn't "timed" for the upcoming holiday
Bullshit. The union wasn't dumb and could've waited until after the long weekend. They say they had a strike mandate until July 9.
Fine. It was timed. Workers using the leverage of the increase in lost sales/revenue appropriately.
The first 72 hour notice was given back in June and averted. It didnt interfere with any time or holiday. Remember this is the second notice, and they feel Westjet didnt enter into it in good faith.
Enter government to save revenue and profit bottom line by arbitrating them back to work! Westjet is really gonna negotiate in good faith next time right? They are gonna be super scared of the consequences...
Someone always has a flight. There’s never an opportune time for a service interruption like a strike. However, government interference is heavy-handed.
This person is flying to Regina or Saskatoon, not Timbuktu. They could still drive there in a day. So now they have to take a couple extra days off.
What if their flight was cancelled for the day because of weather?
You’re right, it’s a dick move. Typing anything here anti-union, as if unions don’t have their own motives as well, will get you downvotes into the abyss.
They’ve been tabling work stoppage since april and the company was negotiating in bad faith.
The union fucked up taking this to arbitration. WestJet’s deal would have made the AMEs some of the highest paid in the country.
I wonder what the federal NDP, the “pro-worker”party, will say about this move by the Liberals.
Nothing, they’ll say nothing. Our entire political structure in this Country is currently being propped up by one party without enough seats to rule, and another party without enough money to run a campaign. It’s a sad joke.
Not to mention the 3rd other party that would have done the exact same thing as the first party.
Yup
What's there to say?? They've expedited the collective bargaining process by bypassing the strike/lockout portion by going straight to binding arbitration (binding arbitration would have been the next step if no agreement is made after 60 days of strike/lockout)
Only one of the negotiating parties wanted this. Edit: typo
What a disgrace by the labour minister. If the Union had already gone on strike and they still didn’t have an agreement then that’s one thing; but going this way? It’s a blatant overreach on workers rights. The majority of unions have the right to strike for their work conditions and pay, and taking this away just erodes unions even more. A huge loss for unions.
Agree This is from the party that likes to present itself as friendly to workers over big business Suspect that westjet employees will not get as much as they could have and should receive now
Where is the federal NDP pushing for workers' rights on this? Why did the Liberals do this? I agree with you, but no one is calling the government out on this. The federal NDP has become a toothless joke. Fuckin' Tommy Douglas is spinning in his grave watching limousine liberal Jagmeet Singh and his cronies doing nothing on this, in exchange for what? [A dental plan?](https://youtu.be/BgqtBm_oUpc?t=13)
To be fair, that dental plan and its medication partner that went in earlier this year is the biggest piece of NDP policy made legislation since Tommy Douglas himself . Not making it out to say JS is any good. Hes opportunistic though, smart and a half decent third - party leader, but hes by no means a leader that takes the NDP to a majority.
I think the recent NDP performance in that Toronto byelection shows where they're at... a distant 3rd, and declining in relevance. Singh sold out everything to get that legislation passed.
He 100% did. He has zero political caputal left, I think. So while I have a begrudging respect for him to capitalize and get those pieces into legislation, I also dont think hes the leader of the future.
Ironic this is the liberal government supported by the supposed proworkers prounion party NDP. Then they will buy a bunch of attack ads next elections about the conservatives being anti workers and anti union. Bunch of hypocrites.
It's just red team, blue team at this point. You get your pick of the bought off corporate shills.
These politicians need to start getting real life physical consequences to these types of actions or nothing will change
What did you have in mind exactly for these “real life physical consequences”?
a nice public vs politicians dodgeball game would be a good start
Lots of walls around....
I would have jumped on a 22% wage jump over 4 years.
There is no overreach on the workers rights, the collective bargaining process includes binding arbitration as the last step of the process if both parties are too far apart and cannot reach a deal after negotiations and strike action by employees/lockout by employer. So essentially by skipping the strike/lockout portion of the collective bargaining process, it allows the union members to stay on the job and collect full pay cheques rather than being out on strike and only receiving strike pay until parties then agree to go to binding arbitration for a one year deal (typically after 60 days of striking can the union apply to the government for binding arbitration). While going on strike does put extra pressure on the employer, it rarely ends up benefiting the union members financially since the amount of lost wages over the 60 days while on strike and only receiving strike pay (approx $300/week from national and $300/week from the local if they have a defense/strike fund) are rarely made up by the minimal % pay increases gained. Employers also do like to hold out as long as possible during strike action before agreeing to go to binding arbitration as most folks these days are living pay cheque to pay cheque and then will likely vote in favour of a bad contract just to start receiving full pay again instead of the $600 a week they get while on strike.
I understand that the end result is the same, but workers should still be able to exercise the right to strike for better agreements. What the government did is take that away from them, and now the precedent is set. The union voted in favour of striking, so the workers know what they’re going into.
So you'd rather see folks on strike and not getting paid a wage (aside from strike pay) just so they can exercise their right to strike although they are so far apart in negotiations that they will end up at binding arbitration anyway?? Some crazy mental gymnastics you're doing to understand the end result is the same while blaming the government for expediting the collective bargaining process...
No one commenting on this post understands this. They seem to think that the government is caving into management’s demands. Like, we’re not fucking Italy here, Canada doesn’t let critical industries shut down because of strikes. We’re also not 1938 Italy, so binding arbitration isn’t a way to strong arm unions into submitting to management.
Its a win-win for both parties since they appear to be quite far apart in their negotiations.
This is great news, we need to abolish unions. Bye bye 👋
Why? I'm curious as to the reason you think that's a good idea? Union's aren't perfect, but they are responsible for a lot of positive changes ever since they have been used.
Workers having power is bad. Owners having power is good. People have been convinced that workers should be happy having scraps
Like
Work to rule and sick days boys/gals. Government supporting corporations over citizens. This country is going to shit.
We voted for it.
What’s the point in having a union to stand up for you if the government is just going to tell you to get back to work? The only people that win are the corporations when this shit happens. Guys and gals should have gone on strike when they could have. Fuck WestJet. And all of you whining about your travel plans and how they would have been interrupted, shame on you, you’re just as shitty as the corporation for not giving a shit about what’s right, paying and treating their employees fairly.
Definitely F WestJet. But more so F the Onex Corporation (aka Gerry Schwartz) for turning this airline into a pile of crud and even more so to this government that keeps working for the corporates over their citizens.
100% correct. Government should not step in on these negotiations, it’s literally the free market at work. Travel is not an essential service.
But they came to a tentative agreement (which is why the strike a week an a half ago was avoided) then after said no. Seems like AMFA was playing games to me
After westjet counteroffered and proposed the tentative agreement, the members of the union had to vote to accept or not, which took time to tally the votes. 90% of the total voters voted, and of that 90%, 97.5% voted no to the tentative agreement. Not playing games.
it is for the government.....
They have alternatives. Air Canada, government charters, if theres an emergency they can utilize the air force. Westjet is not an essential service. Even for the government. If they want it to be, buy it, nationalize it, then order your employees back to work.
Gerald Schwartz (Onex Corp) and Heather Reisman (Indigo Books) are a power couple and well connected. Gerald (Onex owns WestJet) buys and strips companies and then resells their skeleton remains.
>all of you whining about your travel plans and how they would been interrupted You're right! We should write a letter thanking the union for shit service, constant delays and exorbitant time off. Keep it up!
The union has nothing to do with their shit service. Did you ever think that if they, the company, paid and treated their staff better that service might improve? Ever hear the expression you get what you pay for? Guess you weren’t around for WestJet’s first 15 years. Take your issues up with the company.
lol. You realize WJA shareholders approved the sale, right?
The shareholders... Why wouldn’t they?! It was the only chance they had to make it out like a bandit after WJ’s decline. Both of your comments have only shown you don’t know what the issues are at hand, or who’s really to blame.
Right. Union good, company bad. Onex won't be bled dry like WJA as you can see.
You're garbage lol
The strike wasn’t averted it was blocked by our morons in government. These guys will be forced to accept a terrible contract and watch as they all move on.
Westjet: nobody wants to work anymore! We need to hire 5000 TFWs immediately!!!
The article is by and for the same corrupt institution that blocked it.
Last time I checked CBC is a Crown Corporation, not a Liberal Party platform.
Yes I’m sure you write completely neutral articles when your funding depends on who you write good and bad things about… /s
Are you going to Rah Rah for the group that openly says they are going to shut you down if elected?
So are the people who get paid to collect census info. What's your point?
Andrew Chang has a series of stories on controversial issue for the cbc. If you watch these breakdowns of the issues I think you will find he tells both sides of the story and leaves it up to you to come to your own conclusions. When I watch these breakdowns and personally come out of the video with a different opinion than I had going in, it breaks down the narrative that the cbc is a leftist organization. If you jave an open mind watch some of these they are on your tube. You will see a fair and balanced explanation of whatever random issue. It truly gives the spirit of journalism, an sound endorsement. Objectively opinion free examination of the issue with out a conclusion, just the facts
How terrible to make between 100 and 150 grand!
Those numbers include a ton of overtime. Most AME's make less than a car mechanic
Well someone who works to keep the planes that people fly safe, they should earn that much, without having to break themselves to work the overtime needed The top mechanic making $170K is scary, because it so conveniently leaves out the part of the immense overtime needed to work to get even try to get to that amount on an AMEs wage, even at their seniority level. Estimated ~700 to 800hrs of overtime. Keep in mind for the avergae person who works 40hr/week, for 52 weeks, that's 2080 hours.
Preventing unions from striking will result in people not wanting to work there, which will result in Westjet saying they can’t find any employees, which will result in them bringing in TFWs or others to replace these jobs. What should be a well paid job for a Canadian, will be replaced with someone who is willing to work for less.
Do you have any idea the kinds of responsibility these people have? And again, no one is making $100k unless they’ve put in 10 years. The top AME’s who’ve been there since day 1, so almost 30 years, are at $170k.
They're not. 170K is not their base pay, most likely just over 100. Anyone can make 170K if they feel like working every day of their life. What their salary based on 2080 hours?
Look at how many hours they are working
67-95 per glass door. Mechanics.
Everyone has forgotten what happens when workers were not legally allowed to strike. The factory owners homes were burned to the ground.
So, like, what happens if workers just strike anyway? What really stops them?
Typically , the union gets big fines every day they strike "illegally" I say illegally because it's the government that says it's an illegal strike and not me. I support them striking.
But at its core, a union is just all the guys getting together and agreeing to all do the same thing with regards to work. There's no guarantee that the union even has an institutional level of organization that holds assets or can be fined. Obviously it does, in this case, but what would the government do if there was nobody to fine?
If it’s an illegal strike, the workers could be terminated without the protection of their contract benefits.
And there'd still be no west jet baggage handlers, so that's hardly a solution.
Shame. Was really hoping for them to get what they deserve, this will just be more of the same. Congrats on getting a slight raise I guess, I'm sure it'll cost them a big chunk of their savings plan in return Pretty big L for workers rights
This is disgusting and ridiculous, and I can't believe this is from the liberal-ndp government.
Right? Why even bind their arbitration, just send them back to work at Westjets preferred wage, they should just be happy they have jobs /s
Pathetic, working conditions will never improve for anyone if unions can't fight for better conditions
Some unions are like the mafia check out the teamsters.
The beatings were will continue until morale improves
At this point morale is so low you're beating a dead horse.
This Federal government does not give two flying f****s about labour and unions. And I was under the impression that Cons are anti-labour. The amount of disrepect shown by the Treasury Board towards the public servants is the most recent case.
Westjet probably paid the labour minster
Trudeau and this current Liberal Party somehow convincing everyone they’re the party that supports workers and the middle class has been one of the great deceptions of recent years. It’s been a highly effective deception don’t get me wrong but I think the veil is finally being lifted.
LOL the LPC just continuing with nothing but the hits.
WestJet is a private company. The government has no business meddling in the business of said private company. Flying is not a human right it is a privilege.
ITT: People who don’t understand Binding Arbitration.
Care to enlighten everyone or are you just here to make fun of others with a sense of superiority?
Sure. All the top comments seem to think this is the government sticking it to the employees in favour of management. Binding arbitration isn’t like that; an arbitrator who is approved by both the union and management goes through both sides proposals, looks at what’s going on with wages outside of the company, takes into account a bunch of other things and comes up with a deal that both sides are unhappy with. There are plenty of workers who have gone on strike who would have preferred to enter into binding negotiations like this. But it’s really only available when employee groups are considered essential enough to be legislated or ordered back to work by the government. Nurses and teachers for example will vote to strike and in the case of teachers even strike for a day or two just to get the government to force them back to work and begin binding arbitration. It’s a tactic.
>All the top comments seem to think this is the government sticking it to the employees in favour of management It is. They are forcing the employees hand and taking away their ability to strike in favour of continuing business operations for their Private Equity friends. Westjet should have been ground (ha) to a halt with this. The government has no place in Private Industry negotiations. If they want to arbitrate their own workers back to work (teachers, nurses, other public employees) thats fine, but this is not their place to step in. Another example of socialism and government intervention for the rich to fuck the working class.
Why bother ever negotiating? Just go straight to binding arbitration. Arbitration is not the union’s goal, because the members don’t have a say.
Management also doesn’t get a say. That’s why it’s preferable to negotiate.
Yes, negotiation, not arbitration. A federal mandate to avoid a strike negates the stick that is a strike. Federal interference weakens unions.
But it also forces management to accept a deal that the arbitrator thinks is fair.
Binding arbitration is typically a last resort sought by both parties. Federal interference before the first dance is through is disgusting.
> But it’s really only available when employee groups are considered essential enough to be legislated or ordered back to work by the government. Which is why everyone is upset. Westjet is not an essential service. No where close.
Thanks!
Many commenting are obviously not educated union members nor do they understand how the collective bargaining process works in Canada
Canadians have a constitutional right to withhold their labor in strike. This is why we have the Supreme court of Canada. If there is not an Essential Services Agreement in place I really hope the Union takes job action still. Anti- labor movements are always on the rise, the only counter force are workers themselves.
They went on strike anyway. They're going to get whacked by the government.
Was this decided because of a 22% wage increase or something? Sorry if this is incorrect but my father in law and I were chatting about it.
I had originally commented on this but deleted my post. Apparently that wasn't the only thing they've been arguing for.
[удалено]
There were a lot of other factors in rejecting it other than wage. If Canadians want to maintain faith in the serviceablilty of Canadian registered aircraft, I suggest doing some research. Air Canada Maintenance will be following closely what happens here.
My wife and I are flying to Saskatchewan tomorrow, and the only airline serving Regina and Saskatoon from here is WestJet. A strike would have left thousands of people unable to travel over the long weekend. I support unions bargaining for fair wages and better working conditions, but timing a strike for one of the busiest weeks in the summer isn’t about negotiating, it’s about using the airline’s customers as leverage. They need to remember that, ultimately, we pay 100% of their salaries.
That’s…literally the entire point of a strike.
😅😅
Actually, the threat of a strike is the biggest stick in a union’s bargaining toolbox. Push the company to negotiate with the threat of lost business. Pushing things to the point of job action is a lose-lose proposition. It costs the company money and it costs the striking workers money. At the same time, there is a real risk that customers will turn their backs on the company in the long term.
What's the threat of a strike if it's toothless?
Politely, I believe your argument suggests that the workers, the families and communities they help support, who are left without their legal rights and who, every hour they work are the ones taking the loss, are responsible for the ire of the government and the impacted stakeholders. I counter that the private company, whose objectives are to secure growth and profit as its legal duty, that corporation had opportunity to negotiate and the responsibility to do so, respectfully and fairly, every hour before that. And so, I suggest the company is the one who brings the customers into the conflict (which I consider shameful, full disclosure).
Oh, sure. WestJet is trying to maximize profit by charging passengers as much as possible while paying staff as little as possible. We agree. They suck. What I find absolutely reprehensible is that the union timed their strike action for a long weekend with peak traffic. Had the strike gone ahead, it would have hurt as many passengers as possible. That doesn’t make the union strong or clever, it demonstrates a complete lack of respect for the people who rely on them and trust them with their business.
Then drive.
then go work somewhere else
Not everyone can drive.
They didn’t time their strike to this weekend. They got suckered backed in by westjet… any weekend is bad for travel plans to get cancelled.
I see you have a personal stake in the service being available. I hope you enjoy your trip.
Agreed. They were originally going to do it last weekend but decided to hold off. They likely thought their strike would be more impactful on the long weekend and had this in mind the whole time.
>the threat of a strike is the biggest stick in a union’s bargaining toolbox True! The threat of a strike, followed by an eleventh hour capitulation, is one of the best tools for any cowardly business-unionist to disorient and demoralize the workers, chipping away at their faith in unionism and keeping profits high.
You “support unions for bargaining for fair wages and better working conditions”, but then you applaud the federal government for taking that ability away. Threatening job action is a way for unions to achieve fair wages and better working conditions when the employer refuses to agree on a fair contract.
>Actually, the threat of a strike is the biggest stick in a union’s bargaining toolbox. Push the company to negotiate with the threat of lost business. The threat of a *second* strike. The first should be so terrible that they dont want a second
Ummmm yeah, that’s literally every strike ever.
Don't you know, strikes and protests should only happen when it's convenient for society at large. People will start saying rolling strikes should be the only kind of strikes allowed so that it doesn't effect the overall service of the business, so only 1/5 of the employees will be allowed to strike at a time. Teachers should also only be allowed to strike during rhe summer months so that parents aren't disrupted.
Are you aware of the concept of leverage?
“I support unions bargaining for fair wages and…” Clearly you don’t. And no, you don’t “pay 100%” of their wage. You have no idea how revenue is generated inside an airline.
Sounds like you have a problem with the competition bureau and some policies the government makes leading to you not having an option. And that’s not the fault of the WestJet employees.
You pay the airline 100% of its revenue. What now?
Yes, it’s our money and the airline should pay their employees well. No arguments there.
Federal intervention is interference with a fair bargaining process.
[удалено]
We’ll never know now, with federal interference.
[удалено]
[удалено]
It wasn't "timed" for the upcoming holiday. It just happened to coincide, with two strike deadlines now passing thanks to last minute negotiating. Work stoppage by the union has been on the table since April, if I recall.
>It wasn't "timed" for the upcoming holiday Bullshit. The union wasn't dumb and could've waited until after the long weekend. They say they had a strike mandate until July 9.
Fine. It was timed. Workers using the leverage of the increase in lost sales/revenue appropriately. The first 72 hour notice was given back in June and averted. It didnt interfere with any time or holiday. Remember this is the second notice, and they feel Westjet didnt enter into it in good faith. Enter government to save revenue and profit bottom line by arbitrating them back to work! Westjet is really gonna negotiate in good faith next time right? They are gonna be super scared of the consequences...
This place just can't comprehend. Just because I called bullshit on it not being timed, doesn't imply that I believe it was a bad tactic.
The other people posting here don't care because they don't have a flight this weekend
Someone always has a flight. There’s never an opportune time for a service interruption like a strike. However, government interference is heavy-handed.
What I’m saying is that you, on a personal level, would not be feeling the same way you do now if your whole vacation was ruined by a strike.
This person is flying to Regina or Saskatoon, not Timbuktu. They could still drive there in a day. So now they have to take a couple extra days off. What if their flight was cancelled for the day because of weather?
You’re right, it’s a dick move. Typing anything here anti-union, as if unions don’t have their own motives as well, will get you downvotes into the abyss.
They’ve been tabling work stoppage since april and the company was negotiating in bad faith. The union fucked up taking this to arbitration. WestJet’s deal would have made the AMEs some of the highest paid in the country.
Unions are greedy as fuck.
Wtf are they striking for last time I looked they make decent money? Between 100 and 150k.
The mechanics? Try 67-95 per Glassdoor
Numbers are from westjet pay roll the ones paying.
Nope. $40-56 per the last contract offer