Did WestJet pilots reject $300K+ salaries? Union says figures ‘cherry-picked’ | 24CA News
WestJet is telling its pilots it was providing “significant” wage will increase that will make them among the many highest paid employees in Canada earlier than the pilots’ union issued discover for a strike that might start this week, Global News has discovered.
But the union says the “cherry-picked” six-figure salaries included in inner communications don’t symbolize the complete scope of the supply they rejected, and criticized the airline for bargaining in public.
Global News obtained a memo despatched to pilots by John Aaron, WestJet’s vice-president of flight operations, to the airline’s pilots hours after the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) issued a 72-hour strike discover Monday night.
WestJet pilots are set to stroll off the job at 3 a.m. Eastern on Friday until a deal is reached.
In the memo, Aaron mentioned the airline’s newest supply — which expired after the strike discover was issued — would have raised salaries to “around” $300,000 for a narrowbody plane captain and $350,000 for a widebody plane captain, earlier than additional time and different stipends.
Aaron mentioned these wages would have made narrowbody captains and first officers the highest-paid in Canada.
Narrowbody plane are the extra frequent passenger planes, just like the Boeing 737, which have a single aisle separating passenger seating. WestJet’s present fleet is generally made up of narrowbody planes.
“Over the term of the agreement, our proposal would have seen wage rate growth, across-the-board increases and redesigned core compensation structures to dramatically increase take home pay on every pay cheque,” he wrote.
But Tim Perry, ALPA’s nationwide president, informed Global News in an interview the figures don’t symbolize what all WestJet pilots would earn, including there’s “a wide range” of each pilot salaries and what the airline was providing.
“We have members that are first officers and captains of all levels of seniority that fly all different types of airplanes,” he mentioned. “And (the memo) definitely doesn’t paint the image of all of the members that we are attempting to symbolize right here.
“We represent all the members, not just a couple.”
Perry wouldn’t say what the present vary of salaries for WestJet pilots is below the outdated collective settlement, or give an concept of what salaries have been provided to different pilots below the airline’s most up-to-date supply. He mentioned the union will proceed to maintain talks on the bargaining desk, regardless of Aaron’s memo changing into public.
But he disagreed with Aaron’s assertion that the airline’s supply contained “significant” wage will increase, even in comparison with the present top-tier wage.
In his memo, Aaron added the airline’s proposal additionally “contemplated improvements to scope provisions that provide job protection and improvements to scheduling.”
“Both the wage and scope provisions came at significant cost to the company,” he wrote.
Perry disagreed that the supply adequately addressed the union’s considerations concerning job safety and scheduling. He added the airline’s bargaining staff had “repurposed” cash from different components of the collective settlement with a view to “bolster” its wage presents, which might solely hurt pilots.
“The context matters,” he mentioned. “Robbing Peter to pay Paul and moving money from one part of the agreement to another … that’s not good faith bargaining in our view.”
The figures within the memo haven’t been divulged in any of WestJet’s public statements thus far concerning the ongoing negotiations with ALPA, which represents some 1,600 flight crew at WestJet and subsidiary Swoop.
The proposed wages are considerably increased than the common annual wage in Canada, which was simply over $61,000 in 2022, in line with Statistics Canada.
Asked how he would reply to Canadians who might balk on the figures in Aaron’s memo, Perry mentioned he understood however famous only a few ALPA members would take house these sorts of salaries. Many pilots don’t make ends meet with their present wages, he added.
“There’s nothing our pilots want more than to show up for work on Friday,” Perry mentioned. “But they want to do so under a fair contract.”
The airline issued a lockout discover shortly after the union’s strike discover was introduced, and has warned the strike might result in flight delays and cancellations till it’s resolved.
Preparations have begun to function a decreased schedule with fewer Westjet and Swoop flights and to supply “flexible change and cancel options for those who wish to make alternate arrangements,” WestJet mentioned Monday evening.
Aaron, who as vice-president of flight operations is named WestJet’s “chief pilot,” apologized to pilots within the memo concerning the stress of potential job motion.
“As I’ve discussed on my all-pilot-call I have been in your shoes and recognize the stress of the situation, for that I am truly sorry,” he wrote.
“I still believe we can come to an agreement with your association with meaningful improvements in the Canadian market. You have my word we remain committed to continuing bargaining to reach a fair agreement with you, our valued pilots.”
—With information from David Akin
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
