WestJet flight attendants seek ‘minimum pay guarantee’

WestJet flight attendants are hoping their new status as unionized employees will bring changes to a system that currently compensates them only for time spent in the air.

For months, flight attendants at the Calgary-based airline have been raising concerns about their pay structure. While it is industry-wide practice to base cabin crew pay on the hours spent flying, most other airlines also provide some compensation for the time flight attendants spend on the ground doing tasks such as preparing airplanes for service, deplaning passengers, etc.

A flight attendant who spoke to The Canadian Press in March on condition of anonymity said WestJet does not — meaning that a flight attendant earning a starting wage of just over $25 an hour who only spends half of an eight-hour work day in the air is essentially earning less than minimum wage.

On Tuesday, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) became the official bargaining agent for 3,000 WestJet flight attendants nationwide after being granted an interim order by the Canada Industrial Relations Board. The union had filed an application with the CIRB on July 10 to represent the flight attendants after a majority signed cards stating they supported joining CUPE.

Janelle Godsman, a Calgarybased WestJet flight attendant and one of the early supporters of the CUPE drive, said she is hopeful that unionization will help the flight attendants negotiate what she calls an “industry-standard contract.”

“We would like to see a minimum pay guarantee per duty day,” Godsman said. “Currently we’re paid on block hours like the majority of airlines, but there’s no minimum pay guarantee. So if we show up and do an hour-long flight, we only get paid for an hour even though we’re working more.”

Two separate Toronto-based law firms, Koskie Minsky LLP and Charney Lawyers, have been investigating the possibility of a class-action suit on behalf of WestJet flight attendants related to unpaid work hours.

On its website, Charney Lawyers said “off-the-clock” work contradicts federal labour laws, and WestJet cabin crew should be entitled to back pay going back at least two years or longer, depending on provincial limitation periods.

However, senior partner Ted Charney told Postmedia on Wednesday that while his firm is still looking for flight attendants interested in taking part in a classaction suit, the recent successful unionization campaign may take some air out of that movement.

“In light of the fact there’s a union campaign that is having some success, that may end up being the best route for the flight attendants to go,” Charney said. “We’re still looking for flight attendants who are interested in participating in litigation to get in touch with us, but at the moment it seems their interest is to go towards organizing.”