WestJet strike will continue until there's a deal, union says, as flight cancellation tally grows

A strike by WestJet Airlines' mechanics that has led to hundreds of cancelled flights over the Canada Day long weekend will continue until a deal is reached, the union's president told Reuters on Sunday.

Bret Oestreich, president of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, said the two sides will reconvene with a mediator on Sunday. The union represents about 680 workers at WestJet, including aircraft maintenance engineers, who went on strike Friday after 97 per cent of members rejected a pay deal reached in May.

"All we want to do is to go back to the table," said Oestreich.

"The strike will be in effect until we get an agreement."

He said the two sides are separated by a first-year economic difference of approximately seven per cent, or less than $8 million on a roughly four-year contract.

WestJet, which is owned by Onex Corp, was not immediately available for comment on Sunday.

During a news conference at WestJet headquarters in Calgary on Saturday morning, both WestJet president Diederik Pen and the airline's chief executive officer, Alexis von Hoensbroech, repeatedly said they were both outraged and devastated by the strike, with von Hoensbroech calling it "totally absurd."

"The reason why you actually do a strike is because you may need to exercise pressure on the bargaining table. If there is no bargaining table, it makes no sense," he said.

He said that, as a result of the actions, the situation "will only grow in difficulty and magnitude."

"So this is a very destructive thing, basically done by a rogue U.S. union that's trying to make inroads into Canada and taking some practices in here that are very, very unusual," said von Hoensbroech.