CALGARY – WestJet flight attendants are on strike, with the airline’s flights halted on a busy summer travel weekend after the carrier and union failed to reach a new contract.
CUPE announced the strike shortly after a strike deadline passed.
Contract talks had been ongoing, in an effort to bridge the gaps between WestJet and CUPE WestJet Component, with the major stumbling block being the cabin crew’s unpaid ground work.
In a media release from the union, President Alia Hussain said WestJet’s latest offer didn’t go far enough.
“We are on strike because we believe we deserve better,” said the president of the union’s 8125 local, Alia Hussain. “We are ready to go back to the table to settle. We hope the federal government will not interfere and will let the bargaining process run its course. Unpaid work is a big piece of our priorities, but we are bargaining a comprehensive contract.
“We would not be here if (the airline) had taken our concerns seriously for almost 11 months of bargaining.”
WestJet has not yet commented on the strike or the status of negotiations.
It had begun grounding planes and cancelling flights in the lead-up to a potential strike to avoid stranding passengers and crew.
Along with wage rates generally, compensation for work done on the ground has marked a key stumbling block in the talks, less than a year after the same issue sparked a work stoppage by 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada.
In Calgary, bargaining teams continued with near-round-the-clock negotiations at a hotel conference room to hammer out a new contract.
A question mark dangling over the talks is how Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government might intervene.
Soon after Air Canada flight attendants went on strike over what they deemed unpaid work last August, Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu directed the country’s labour board to order them back on the job.
The union defied the order, forcing Air Canada back to the bargaining table where the parties hashed out a tentative deal. The union’s move marked an extralegal precedent that served as a warning to airline executives across the country in future negotiations.
Reaction to the news of a strike came swiftly from Minister of Jobs Patty Hajdu, who said she was disappointed that no deal could be reached to avoid a disruption.
She reiterated previous comments that the strongest deals happen at the table, but did not say whether the government planned to intervene.
Even a brief shutdown will cost WestJet millions of dollars during the height of summer travel — on a long weekend across much of Canada. The airline operates more than 600 flights per day carrying thousands of passengers — sometimes more than 70,000, according to the company.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees had ratcheted up a public relations campaign in recent weeks, launching a “day of action” with rallies across the country on July 14.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2026.
