Источник The Globe and Mail.com, Toronto, Canada
Заголовок How arbitration plans went awry ahead of WestJet mechanics strike
Дата 20240702

Этим цветом    обозначаются известные системе слова и выражения, принимавшие участие в анализе данного текста, а таким    - идентифицированные, то есть соотнесенные с каким-либо объектом онтологической базы

============= Обработанный текст:
How arbitration plans went awry ahead of WestJet mechanics strike

How arbitration plans went awry ahead of WestJet mechanics strike

Christopher Reynolds

The Canadian Press

Published 15 minutes ago

Share

Bookmark

Please log in to bookmark this story. Log In Create Free Account

Arbitration doesn’t typically spur a strike. If anything, the reverse occurs.

But on Thursday, a directive for binding arbitration from Labour Minister
Seamus O’Regan was met with job action by WestJet plane mechanics just one day
after it was issued, catching the airline and the government off guard and
marking a turbulent start to one of the busiest travel weekends of the summer.

The work stoppage, which ended late Sunday night , raises questions about a
dispute resolution process that pushed tensions to the breaking point and how
consumers should respond to the threat of an airline strike.

O’Regan had the power to bar a strike as part of a directive to the country’s
labour tribunal to impose binding arbitration, said a union official and
aviation experts.

WestJet faces a logistical nightmare getting planes back in the air in wake of
strike

In their public statements last week, both the airline and the federal
government seemed to presume a strike was off the table after the order, but a
ruling Friday by the Canada Industrial Relations Board said the union’s 680
WestJet workers could still walk off the job because the directive had not
explicitly suspended that right.

The decision forced WestJet to call off more than 1,100 flights affecting
roughly 150,000 travellers – many of whom received less than a day’s notice –
according to figures from the Calgary-based company and tracking service
FlightAware.

The strike sparked outrage in the C-Suite.

In my 25 years in aviation, I have never encountered such an unreasonable
counterparty. Calling for a strike despite the minister ordering arbitration
is a misuse of the right to strike,” said CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech in a post
on LinkedIn.

He said in the statement that the move served no purpose other than disrupting
customers and “creating damage” to the carrier.

Once the parties are in arbitration, there is no more bargaining taking
place, so a strike no longer influences the outcome.”

That turned out not to be the case. Talks did resume over the weekend, and
they yielded a tentative deal that would see the mechanics receive a
30-per-cent boost in total compensation over the contract’s five-year term,
according to Ian Evershed, a representative for the Airplane Mechanics
Fraternal Association who helped lead the negotiations.

Now, arbitration will only kick in if workers vote to turn down the agreement.
They overwhelmingly rejected an initial offer in a mid-June vote, prompting
WestJet to request binding arbitration and setting in motion the manoeuvres
that culminated in the Canada Day long weekend strike.

The work stoppage took a toll on consumer goodwill. Travellers took to social
media
to express their frustrationsometimes in colourful language.

One customer said on the X platform that the airline informed them only at
11:12 p.m. on Saturday that their next-day flight out of Las Vegas was
cancelled, calling the last-minute move “scumbag behaviour.”

While most travellers could receive refunds from WestJet, those with related
costs tied to hotel or other flight bookings – that they missed, or that they
made while stuck abroad – might not get that money back without coverage for
trip cancellation• Страхование » Аннулирование страховых полисов or interruption, said Marty Firestone, president of
insurance• Страхование firm Travel Secure Inc.

This has been a nightmare for people,” he said. “Getting that refund for your
airfare is the least of your problems.”

The strike also left both sides in the standoff embittered.

In the conference room at a hotel near Toronto’s Pearson airport, the mood
see-sawed wildly from day to day, Evershed said.

“When the ministerial referral came through we felt completely defeated. And
then likewise over the course of the next day or two where the CIRB upheld our
right to strikewe were elated,” he said.

“I’m sure that the company was just devastated by that.”

As the weekend wore on, the friction only intensified.

Emotions are running high. The big contributing factor is fatigue … There are
points where frustration takes over,” Evershed said.

Some of the things that have been said publicly – it’s unfortunate that it
went that far,” he added, referring to both sides. In an update to its members
Sunday morning, the union negotiating committee said it was “the victim of
WestJet’s virulent PR campaign that (members) are scofflaws,” citing
“calumnies” against workers around their right to strike.

@@@@

============= Итог: 3,2000 ; Страхование#Аннулирование страховых полисов


Copyright © 2007-2024 ООО «RelTeam»