According to a CTV News report on August 2, WestJet flight attendants went on strike during the summer travel rush after failing to reach a new contract with the company and union, resulting in the complete grounding of the airline’s flights. Both the Canadian Public Employees Union (CUPE) , representing the employees, and WestJet announced the decision after the strike deadline. Contract negotiations have been taking place in Calgary, where WestJet is headquartered, with the main disagreements between the two sides including issues such as wages and compensation for ground work.
WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said: “We are disappointed with the current situation, which directly impacts travellers, employees, and the communities and businesses we serve.” He added, “We still hope to continue negotiations with the union. We proposed a contract that would make WestJet the only company in Canada to pay for all pre- and post-flight time for its crew, with a double-digit pay rise in the first year. Unfortunately, it was not accepted.”Regarding the union, Alia Hussain, president of Chapter 8125, stated in a media briefing that WestJet’s latest offer was still insufficient.
She said, “We are striking because we believe we deserve better treatment. We are ready to return to the negotiating table to resolve the issue and hope the federal government will not interfere and let the negotiations proceed naturally. Unpaid work is one of our key concerns, but we are negotiating a comprehensive contract.” “If the company had taken our concerns seriously during the nearly 11 months of negotiations, we wouldn’t be where we are today.” Hours after the strike took effect, WestJet released details of its latest plan.
The plan includes what the company calls a comprehensive salary increase, with wages rising by 13% starting in October and retroactive payments for the difference made up to January 1. In addition, it includes a new duty allowance, equivalent to a 12% pay rise. The plan also includes an immediate 13% increase in daily meal allowance, a $300 annual health expenditure account, additional vacation time, and 17 weeks of maternity leave. The plan also includes measures to improve working hours and quality of life, such as reducing maximum working days, providing extra rest time at home and in other locations, and providing additional compensation for task adjustments or hotel delays.
To prevent passengers and crew from being stranded, WestJet had already begun grounding and cancelling flights before the strike. Besides wages, compensation for ground workers is also a major obstacle in the negotiations. Less than a year ago, the same issue triggered a strike by 10,000 Air Canada cabin crew. In Calgary, negotiators spent almost the entire day in hotel conference rooms discussing new contracts. One of the key focuses of attention is whether the federal government, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, will intervene. Last August, after Air Canada flight attendants went on strike over “unpaid work,” Federal Employment Minister Patty Hajdu asked the Federal Labour Council to order employees to return to work. The union refused to comply with the order, forcing Air Canada to renegotiate, and the two sides eventually reached a provisional agreement. This move set an industry precedent and served as a wake-up call for airline executives across the country.
Employment Minister Hajdu responded swiftly to the strike, expressing regret in a social media statement that no agreement could be reached to avoid disrupting traffic. She reiterated that the most productive agreements are reached at the negotiating table, but did not disclose whether the government would intervene. Even a brief suspension of operations would cost WestJet millions of Canadian dollars during the summer peak season. The company operates more than 600 flights daily, sometimes carrying over 70,000 passengers.
The Canadian Public Employees Union has recently intensified its public relations campaign, launching “Day of Action” rallies in multiple locations across the country on July 14. Ads supporting flight attendants’ demands are ubiquitous on podcasts, TikTok, and other social media platforms. WestJet currently uses a “points-based” pay system, which integrates flight time, ground duties, delays, and other labor into a higher hourly wage, calculated on a full-day basis. The company website states that the hourly wage ranges from $28.88 to $53.61. Based on 80 points-based hours per month (full-time standard), the annual income is approximately $27,700 to $51,500. Many airlines have adopted similar pay structures.
In 2022, Delta Air Lines pioneered the reform, becoming the first airline in North America to pay separate wages for ground work. American Airlines and Alaska Airlines subsequently followed suit, paying 50% of the normal hourly wage for boarding duties. In February of this year, Air Canada secured a 70% hourly wage for ground work performed one hour before boarding (i.e., a “boarding allowance”). In August 2025, Ottawa launched an investigation into unpaid work in the airline industry. At that time, Air Canada and the cabin crew union had broken down in negotiations, leading to a strike that grounded flights and forced employees to take to the strike line.
At the heart of the strike is the union’s accusation that flight attendants often work without pay while aircraft are parked. In response, the Employment Minister has asked his department to investigate whether any employees in the aviation industry are earning below the federal minimum wage. The initial findings of the investigation, released in February of this year, showed that no widespread unpaid work was found in the industry, but investigators recommended further attention to part-time and junior flight attendants. In May of this year, Canada’s major flight attendants union criticized the pay information that airlines submitted to the government, saying that it had a narrow and misleading definition of “jobs.” In a letter, the head of the union’s aviation department pointed out that the pay data submitted by the airline this month used an overly narrow, or even “misleading,” definition of the job to prove that the crew received fair compensation.