(Calgary) The union representing WestJet pilots said it asked for help from the federal government after months of negotiations with the airline failed to produce a new contract.
The WestJet Master Executive Council, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), said it filed a request for conciliation assistance with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
The Federal Minister of Labor now has 15 days to appoint a conciliator. Once appointed, the agent would work with the parties for 60 days to reach an agreement.
If the two parties remain deadlocked after this period, a 21-day cooling-off period will begin before the parties can consider other alternatives, including a strike or lockout.
ALPA Canada, which represents about 1,800 pilots at WestJet and its low-cost subsidiary Swoop, says it has been negotiating unsuccessfully with the Calgary-based company since September.
The pilots’ first collective bargaining agreement, which expired at the end of 2022, was the result of an arbitration settlement. The settlement, reached in 2018, averted a threat of a pilot strike, as WestJet pilots voted in favor of industrial action after negotiations failed.