The risk of travel chaos is starting to look like a sure thing as Canadians make plans to take to the skies this Victoria Day long weekend.
Adding to the staff shortage, one of Canada’s major airlines is now on the brink of a labor dispute. More than 300 WestJet pilots stood outside Terminal 3 at Pearson International Airport this afternoon, with similar pickets in Calgary and Vancouver ahead of a potential walkout next week.
Pilots say they are fed up with WestJet’s poor treatment, poor pay and high turnover rate.
“We are ready to go on legal strike, or be blocked at that point, but we are still waiting to reach an agreement,” Captain Chris Tholl, a WestJet pilot, told CTV National News.
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the union representing the striking workers, says pilots are leaving at an incredible rate, stating in a press release that WestJet is losing “more than 30 a month” which is equivalent to a pilot leaving the airline “every 18 hours in search of a better job opportunity.”
They say pilots are taking higher-paying jobs with other airlines, particularly in the US, to ensure not only more money, but also job security and better hours.
“We are some of the lowest paid in North America, if not the world, and that has to change,” Captain Bernard Lewall, chairman of the WestJet ALPA Chief Executive Council, told CTV National News.
In a statement to CTV News, WestJet says it is “committed to listening to the concerns of our pilots” while “reaching an agreement that is competitive within the Canadian airline industry.”
The labor unrest comes as airlines and airports try to recover after a year of travel woes, where long waits and lost luggage seemed to be the rule, not the exception.
Pearson Airport, which was ranked among the world’s worst for delayed flights in 2022, hired 10,000 new employees ahead of the busy summer travel season.
“Almost 22 percent more employees compared to last summer,” Deborah Flint, president and CEO of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), said at a news conference Monday.
“The anxiety, uncertainty, frustration and lack of control felt by passengers last year is something we will never forget. We want Torontonians, Ontarians and Canadians, and travelers from around the world, to know that this summer will be much different and better than the summer of 2022.”
Air Canada continues to operate at 90 percent of its pre-pandemic schedule, but said in a statement that it has “more people on staff than in the summer of 2019 and this should further help with resilience.”
WestJet says it plans to hire 2,000 more people this year.
But industry experts warn that the hiring may not be enough to prevent a repeat of last year’s travel delays, with so many variables, from ambitious scheduling to a shortage of air traffic controllers, adding to the factors that could cause delays.
“It’s going to be a turbulent summer,” John Gradek, a professor at McGill University, told CTV National News.
“It could be unpleasant, so as much as Pearson and the airports want to make sure this doesn’t happen again, we don’t repeat it, there could be some repeats.”
The first real test will come next week ahead of the busy Victoria Day long weekend, which could coincide with a strike by West Jet pilots. The deadline for a deal is set for next Tuesday.
“On May 13, the pilots are prepared to submit a 72-hour strike notice and hope that they will be in a legal position to begin labor action on May 16, should management continue to stall negotiations.” , reads the ALPA statement.