Sunday, August 30, 2026

WestJet strike over, flight operations resume across Canada

The strike by the flight attendants on Sunday led to the cancellation of over 300 flights, and disruption of travel plans of several passengers.

• August 4, 2026
WestJet
WestJet

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and WestJet, have said the flight attendants of the airline on Monday, reached a tentative agreement and called off their strike to resume operations.

The union in a statement on Monday, said the terms of the agreement, described as meaningful progress, would be presented to thier members for review and ratification vote in 30 days.

The union said, “WestJet Mainline flight attendants have reached a tentative agreement. With the strike now over, flight attendants will be returning to work. If ratified, the agreement improves upon the legacy flight credit system by introducing a duty period premium that recognizes more of the work cabin crew are required to perform and increases compensation for that work.

According to the statement, the CUPE 8125 President, Alia Hussain, in a news conference stated, “This tentative agreement represents meaningful progress. It evolves the flight credit system by recognizing more of the work cabin crew are required to perform and with general increases to compensation for that work. Most importantly, this agreement was achieved through collective bargaining at the negotiating table. We will now present the agreement to our members for their review and ratification vote.

“The tentative agreement will now be presented to the membership for review and a ratification vote. Details of the agreement will be shared directly with members in advance of the vote.”

“We wouldn’t bring a deal to our membership if we didn’t believe that the puzzle pieces, in the way that they would come together, would be something that they would ratify.”

Also confirming the agreement, WestJet Chief Executive Officer, Alexis von Hoensbroech, praised the cabin crew, saying, “We are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement that reflects the hard work and professionalism our cabin crew.”

Canada’s Jobs ⁠minister, Patty Hajdu, was also said to have welcomed the tentative agreement.

The pay dispute was over compensation for work performed on the ground, including boarding passengers, completing safety checks and managing delays.

The union and the airline did not disclose the details of the agreement, but the airline on Sunday made public the details of the offer they made during the meeting on Saturday, which included a 13 per cent pay increase to take effect from October 1 and retroactive to January 1, 2026, followed by 2.5 per cent increases annually to 2029.

The strike by the flight attendants on Sunday led to the cancellation of over 300 flights, and disruption of travel plans of several passengers.

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