Plans of some 110,000 travellers upended after some 680 employees stroll off the job.
Canada’s WestJet has cancelled greater than 800 flights after mechanics walked off the job, upending the journey plans of hundreds of individuals over the Canada Day lengthy weekend.
Some 680 employees have been on strike since Friday after the Calgary-based airline and the Airplane Mechanics Fraternal Affiliation (AMFA) failed to achieve a deal on salaries and dealing situations.
WestJet President and CEO Diederik Pen on Sunday apologised to travellers over the “pointless work stoppage”.
“I’m inspired by our workers’ willingness to rise above the adversity and ship a protected and managed operation going ahead,” Pen stated in an announcement.
“We proceed to carry our view that the present strike serves no objective aside from to inflict most injury to our airline and the nation.”
WesJet has cancelled 832 flights since Thursday, greater than half of them scheduled for Sunday.
The airline stated its 180-plane fleet had been decreased to 32 energetic plane as of Sunday.
WestJet and the AMFA have every accused the opposite facet of not negotiating in good religion.
The AMFA has argued its sought-after wage improve would price WestJet lower than 8 million Canadian {dollars} ($5.8m) past what the corporate has supplied for the primary yr of their contract.
WestJet has stated it supplied a 12.5 % wage rise within the first yr of the contract, and a compounded wage improve of 23.5 % over the remainder of the five-and-a-half-year time period.
The stoppage, which has disrupted the plans of some 110,000 travellers, went forward regardless of a directive from Canadian Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan on Thursday calling for a binding arbitration to settle the dispute.
In June, union members voted 97.25 % to reject a tentative pay deal reached with WestJet.