How did ALPA benefit the WestJet Pilot Group?

It started with high level strategic planning

From the outset, the newly elected WestJet MEC (WJA MEC) and the pilot group as a whole had very little idea how to prepare for the negotiations of their first collective agreement. ALPA staff were instrumental in teaching the WJA MEC how to properly plan for the negotiations. They started by creating a strategic plan that fit their group’s needs, with primary objectives being outlined so that the MEC or the negotiations committee could always refer to them should they lose focus during the actual negotiations process. 

To prepare the pilot group for the upcoming negotiations, ALPA provided WestJet pilots with a thorough contract comparison. It included clear dollar-for-dollar comparisons among their north american peers on everything from pay and scheduling, to work rules and benefits. This detailed comparison served as a benchmark, giving the pilot group a much better grasp of where they stood within the industry. 

ALPA staff spent a great many hours helping the negotiations committee craft surveys that would truly capture what WJA pilots were looking to achieve through the bargaining process. Much of the survey questions used were crafted from previous surveys used by other pilot groups such as Delta, Alaska, Spirit, Hawaiian etc.  Using this experience made their surveys much more focused and useful to the negotiations committee, providing them with a clear mandate to bargain on behalf of their pilots. 

The WestJet Negotiation Committee (WJA NC) was sent to Herndon, Virginia for a seminar on bargaining that proved to be extremely valuable in preparing the negotiations committee for the real thing.  The seminar was extremely accurate to how the actual process would take place.

At the negotiating table, the WJA NC was complemented by the following: 

• An ALPA Canada Lawyer with extensive expertise in the Canada Labour Code and other ALPA pilot contracts.

• An ALPA Canada Labour Relations Advisor who works with WestJet pilots as well as other carriers.

• An ALPA National Lawyer with extensive experience at the bargaining table with multiple different airlines throughout North America.

• Various ALPA Economic and Financial Analysis (E&FA) personel. 

The contractor that WestJet hired to lead their bargaining was an individual that ALPA staff had extensive experience dealing with in previous airline negotiations. This experience made the cadence of their negotiations surprisingly smooth, which is surprising taking into consideration WestJet’s lack of experience in this arena and their anti-union nature.  

It cannot be over-emphasized how extremely valuable it was for the WJA NC to have this support backing them at the table. The labour lawyers were able to provide accurate and timely insight, always having a great eye for what they were seeing from the company, as well as giving them accurate and timely comparisons vis-a-vis their Canadian and American pilot group comparators. The top tier E&FA staff were able to quickly quantify a financial proposal from the company in a matter of minutes (and with incredible accuracy), as well give them a true financial picture on their proposals so they could present them to the company with confidence.  It should be noted that ALPA E&FA is considered to be the best in the business when it comes to financial analysis.  What ALPA says is taken as fact.  It is that simple.

Their most recent negotiations for MOA #3 - Furlough Mitigation Document, once again demonstrated the invaluable support ALPA E&FA provides. While 55 hours has become the accepted baseline minimum monthly guarantee (MMG) within the mainline Canadian carriers MOA’s associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, Alpa’s E&FA staff were able to quickly ascertain that WestJet would not have to lay off any more pilots, and was in fact able to present to WestJet that it could actually afford to bring its pilots up to 58 hours MMG effective October 1,2020.  While it seems like a small sum, it is literally millions of dollars put into the WestJet pilots’ pockets over the life of the MOA (6 months).

As well, the WJA NC was able to present an enhanced leave of absence LOU that could save WestJet millions of dollars.  While it hasn’t been accepted by WestJet to date, this type of LOU was crafted multiple times in the last few months at other ALPA carriers. Without the expertise of ALPA economic staffers, it would have been very difficult for the WJA NC to craft an accurate document with that level of financial data in a timely manner.

How did the Kaplan Award transpire?

Many pilots have very little understanding of an interest-based arbitration award.  By extension, very few pilots truly understand the mechanisms that were guiding Arbitrator Kaplan in his decisions.

Due in no small part to the work and expertise of the ALPA legal and E&FA team, WestJet pilots were able to make a valid argument that the only true competitor to WestJet in Canada was Air Canada.  While this may seem like a logical and easy argument to make, it still has to be defended in a submission to an arbitrator. WestJet has always undermined and cheapened the WJA pilots by including airlines for market comparisons that have absolutely no business being used as comparators.  The work of the ALPA legal team was invaluable in putting forward cohesive and compelling arguments as to why the only true competitor to WestJet is Air Canada.  Because of these arguments, it was never contemplated by Arbitrator Kaplan that Sunwing, Air Transat, Flair etc. were in the same realm as a comparator to WestJet.  Now, because of the legal arguments put forth by ALPA, there is only one true comparator for WestJet pilots, and that is Air Canada.

The gains that WestJet pilots made surrounding scope were absolutely unheard of in a first collective agreement arbitration, but with the help of ALPA legal, the WJA NC was able to show a strong demonstrated need for sound scope provisions.  This part of the award shows the outstanding work put into the submissions and actual arbitration process by the ALPA staff.  Arbitrators are loath to place restrictions on a company’s right to grow. That the WestJet ALPA team was able to erect boundaries is a testament to the resources that ALPA brings to negotiations.

What about Swoop?  

This alter-ego low cost carrier was announced the same day as the vote for ALPA certification.  Swoop presented a unique and difficult challenge as bargaining commenced for their first collective agreement.

Guided by the MEC, ALPA’s communications staff responded to the advent of Swoop by providing their pilot group with clear and informative communications that thoroughly explained the threat that Swoop posed to their careers. Within a short amount of time, a once fractured, albeit traditionally company-friendly pilot group very quickly unified and demonstrated to WestJet that they were willing to walk the line over Swoop.  Without the excellent job done by ALPA’s communication department, the WestJet pilots never would have achieved a strike vote of 91%.  While this seems low to most union pilots, the WestJet pilots went from a low 60% vote for ALPA to a 91% strike vote in a little over a year. This strike vote gave the company no illusions that the WJA Pilots were united, possessed high expectations, and would no longer tolerate further degradation to their careers.