Bargaining Update #14

Dear Members,

WestJet bargaining took place last week in Calgary from January 6 - 9.

This round of bargaining started with the Company presenting a counter-proposal on the Hostage, Internment, or Death Article. This Article had been dealt with prior to Christmas and the parties did not come to a Tentative Agreement (TA) at that time. After exchanging proposals throughout the week, there remains no TA; however, we are close and remain optimistic that we can reach an agreement this coming week.

The Union proposed our Article titled Pay Schedule and Pay Discrepancies. This Article defines how and when Members are paid, as well as how “over” and “under” payments will be handled, with clear and concise language including defined dollar amounts. This will prevent our Membership from being at the whim of Management in such situations. After several exchanges between the Union and Company, we came to an agreement and this Article was signed off in TA.

The Company presented the Union with an article titled Ad Hoc Assignments. This Article contained language that would permit the Company to offer our Membership short-term non-flying assignments as it deems necessary for ground or office operations. These non-flying assignments would be voluntary. The Union is open to considering this ask from the Company, however, we have concerns as much of the proposed language is extremely vague, and does not allow for transparency around how these assignments are awarded.

We cannot allow the Company to have ‘carte blanche’ in terms of the creation of auxiliary roles within our Bargaining Unit. Additionally, this is a significant ask by the Company, and they were not prepared to offer anything in return for granting them this Article in the Collective Agreement. In the view of the Union, this Article serves Management with the flexibility to post non-flying roles on a short-term basis, yet it does not offer anything of material significance to our Membership in return. This was made clear to the Company, and the Company indicated that they do not agree and they are not prepared to offer the Union anything in exchange for the inclusion of this Article. The Union indicated that there will not be a response to this Article until the Company changes its view.

The Company returned with a counter-proposal later in the week on the proposed Expenses Article. Their counter-proposal to us included a significant amount of our proposed language crossed out or not agreed to entirely. The Union did not make a further counter-proposal to the Company during this round of collective bargaining, however, we anticipate doing so this week in Toronto.

We are also currently waiting for the Company’s counter-proposal on the Personal Days Article, and hope to have an update for you on this Article following the next round.

In addition, as you may have heard, on September 1, 2019, there were changes made to the Canada Labour Code. The Company never communicated these changes to our workgroup, and subsequently applied for an exemption. We have proposed an Article that includes these changes. It is important to us that our Membership benefits from improvements to the CLC.

You can reference the following article for more information regarding these changes: https://www.labourandemploymentlaw.com/2019/09/now-effective-changes-to-the-canada-labour-code-part-one/

The next round of Bargaining for the WestJet Collective Agreement is already underway, taking place January 13 - 16 in Toronto.

We have included a document outlining the progress we have made so far, and the important Articles that remain “parked,” or pending. You can access this document HERE.

If you have any questions about the Collective Bargaining process, please contact your Bargaining Committee at: weare4070@cupe4070.ca


In Solidarity,
Your CUPE 4070 WestJet Bargaining Committee