WestJet flight attendants go on strike after talks break down between union and airline
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- WestJet flight attendants struck after 10 months of negotiations between CUPE 8125 (representing 4,400 cabin crew) and the airline broke down late last night over wages and ground pay
- WestJet cancelled over 300 flights on a summer long weekend as more than 4,000 flight attendants walked out, with the union having issued a strike notice Thursday morning
- CUPE argues flight attendants shouldn't work pre-takeoff and post-landing without compensation; WestJet counters that its "credit hours" system — which pays a minimum 4 hours for a 2-hour flight and requires 80 credit hours monthly — already covers ground work
- The credit hour system disproportionately rewards senior crew on long-haul flights with minimal ground time, an inequity CUPE is pushing to resolve by winning ground pay
- Last summer, Air Canada flight attendants — also represented by CUPE — struck over the identical issue and defied a federal back-to-work order, ultimately winning partial ground pay
- The Air Canada tentative deal offered juniors an immediate 12% raise and seniors 8%, but 99.1% of flight attendants voted it down; in February 2026 an arbitrator imposed those terms anyway
- Unions are attacking Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code — rarely invoked before 2022 — saying Ottawa's repeated use of back-to-work orders and binding arbitration tilts bargaining in favour of employers
Why it matters: The strike's outcome hinges on whether Ottawa repeats last year's Section 107 back-to-work order — which Air Canada flight attendants openly defied — or lets collective bargaining play out on a fight the union has now run twice with the same core demand. With 300+ summer-weekend cancellations and a recent Air Canada precedent where a deal "won" at the table was rejected 99.1% by members and then imposed by an arbitrator, the ground-pay fight is heading toward either government intervention or another arbitration that flight attendants may refuse to accept.
