{"id":803894,"date":"2026-07-15T17:20:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/803894\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T17:20:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:20:30","slug":"westjet-flight-attendants-approve-strike-mandate-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/803894\/","title":{"rendered":"WestJet flight attendants approve strike mandate \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

WestJet flight attendants have authorized a strike that could see thousands of workers walk off the job in fewer than three weeks if they are unable to reach a new deal on contract demands.<\/p>\n

The union representing some 4,400 cabin crew at the Calgary-based airline said they voted 99 per cent in favour of the strike mandate, according to an update to members Wednesday seen by The Canadian Press. Turnout topped 97 per cent.<\/p>\n

The mandate does not spark immediate job action, but grants union officials the authority to call a strike after a cooling-off period.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA WestJet plane takes off as WestJet flight attendants hold a “Day of Action” while union members vote on a possible strike in Calgary, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Jeff McIntosh<\/p>\n

A potential strike could occur as soon as Sunday, Aug. 2 \u2014 during a long weekend in most of the country.<\/p>\n

In an earlier bulletin, the Canadian Union of Public Employees said it has made bargaining progress in some areas, but that its push for better compensation and working conditions continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur primary concerns are around wages, how our wages trigger and our working conditions,\u201d said Alia Hussain, who chairs the union\u2019s WestJet contingent, to reporters at a rally in Calgary on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to tell the company that the archaic and exploitative flight credit system that the company currently uses does not compensate us appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ground-duty pay remains a major point of contention at WestJet, after Air Canada flight attendants secured compensation for some ground work at up to 70 per cent of their hourly rate earlier this year.<\/p>\n

WestJet says it recognizes the crucial role cabin crew play on board.<\/p>\n

On its website, the carrier lays out the \u201ccredit hour\u201d system that remains the standard pay model for flight attendants across North America.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than paying a lower hourly wage for every hour on duty, the credit hour system combines flight time, ground duties, delays and other required work into a single, higher rate of pay. That rate is then \u2018credited\u2019 across the full duty day,\u201d the company states.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

The airline views 80 credit hours a month as full-time work. The pay rate ranges between $28.45 and $53.61 per credit hour, amounting to between $2,304 and $4,289 per month, according to WestJet.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, about 250 WestJet flight attendants stood back-to-back in front of the airline\u2019s Calgary headquarters to send a message to management over those wages.<\/p>\n

There were no smiles or comments from the attendants during the day of action across the country, just signs including messages of \u201cReady to Strike,\u201d \u201cUnpaid work won\u2019t fly\u201d and \u201cFrustrated with WestJet? So are we.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last August, 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants walked off the job over the issue of unpaid work. The dispute was eventually settled after the federal government stepped in and forced the two sides into binding arbitration.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WestJet flight attendants have authorized a strike that could see thousands of workers walk off the job in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-803894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}