WestJet pilots set to vote on union

1,300 seek ing better conditions from airline

WestJet pi lots start vot ing this week to de cide if they’ll form the airline’s first union.

The WestJet Pro fes sion al Pilots Association, which is push ing to un ion ize the com pany’s rough ly 1,300 pi lots, says a Yes vote will cre ate a le gal ized struc ture that will bet ter ad dress their con cerns.

“The pi lot group is con cerned that the in creas ing bu rden placed on all em ploy ee groups in pur suit of cor por ate profi ts is dam ag ing our prod uct,” wrote the group, which did not re spond to a re quest for com ment, on its website.

Ian Hol lo way, a la bour ex pert and dean of the University of Calgary’s law school, said that if WestJet employ ees opt to un ion ize, it could restrict how the airline oper ates.

“The attraction of having a nonunionized environment isn’t typically the wage rates, but rather it’s the flexibility,” said Hollo way.

Such flexibility was one of the key ad van tages WestJet had over Air Canada when it en tered the market, but that nimble ness is erod ing.

“WestJet is no long er the lit tle guy,” said Hollo way.

“It’s a huge pan- Can ad ian airline, and the growth and suc cess has brought with it the same attended chal len ges that any other big airline has.”

WestJet has been ex pand ing from its Calgary head quar ters in re cent years, opening bases of oper ation in To ron to and Van couver. The com pany also launched its first trans- At lan tic flights last year and is ex pand ing those off er ings this year.

But the pi lots’ as so ci a tion says it has “ser ious con cerns” that the level of rep resen ta tion has not kept pace with the im mense chan ges that have taken place at the airline.

WestJet de clined to com ment on the vote, but the airline lauded the fact that its em ploy ees weren’t un i on ized in its 2014 an nual re port.

“We have a non- union work force that we be lieve gives us a com petitive ad van tage and helps fos ter our unique cor por ate cul ture,” the com pany wrote.

The com pany also ex pressed con cern in the re port that col lective bar gaining could lead to service disruptions, increased labour costs and a change in com pany cul ture. “Un ion i za tion could also fun damen tal ly change the dy nam ic of our re la tion ship with our em ployees and may diminish our employeefriendly corporate culture and reputation,”

The confidential WestJet pilot vote runs between July 22 and Aug. 5.