Bargaining Strategy, Member Direction and Communications
Hi everyone,
As bargaining continues, we want to explain how the Bargaining Committee determines priorities, how member feedback is considered, and why every proposal or counterproposal exchanged at the table is not published while negotiations are underway.
Members should understand the issues being addressed and where bargaining stands. At the same time, bargaining is a live negotiation, and there is an important difference between keeping members informed and providing a running public record of every position being discussed.
How Bargaining Priorities Are Established
Before bargaining began, we conducted a membership survey to understand where members most wanted to see change and which issues carried the greatest importance.
That survey is an important source of direction, but it is not the only information considered.
The committee also looks at the experience of administering the current Collective Agreement: grievances that have been filed, recurring concerns identified through Union committees and representatives, issues raised by members, and areas of the agreement that have consistently created problems in the workplace.
We also review agreements elsewhere within the WestJet group and across the airline industry to understand how comparable issues are addressed and where Encore’s language, protections or compensation may differ.
Taken together, this information helps us identify the broader patterns and priorities affecting the bargaining unit.
Social Media and Member Feedback
We know members discuss bargaining on Facebook, in group chats and in other online spaces. Those conversations can provide a glimpse into what some members are thinking, but the Union does not use social media to establish bargaining direction or determine a membership mandate.
Not every member participates. Some members comment frequently, some read without engaging, and others do not use these forums at all. As a result, even a very active discussion cannot reliably tell us whether a position represents a small group of members or the bargaining unit as a whole.
We also learned an important lesson through Mainline bargaining. Individual comments and positions expressed online were, at times, raised at the bargaining table as evidence of what “the membership” wanted, even where the broader information available to the Union suggested something different.
That can distort the discussion at the table. It is one reason we are careful to distinguish between online conversation and broader membership direction.
Social media remains a place for members to talk, debate, and exchange ideas. It simply is not the measure the Bargaining Committee uses to determine the collective position of the membership.
Why Every Proposal Is Not Published
Anything distributed to hundreds of members has to be treated as information that may also reach the Company. Screenshots can be forwarded, posts shared, and information moved outside its original audience very quickly.
Publishing every Union proposal, number or counterproposal would therefore provide visibility into positions that are still being negotiated.
There is another practical reason as well: bargaining positions change.
Language is rewritten. Proposals are amended. Issues become connected. A proposal may be withdrawn because another solution addresses the same concern more effectively. An early proposal may look very different from the language ultimately agreed to.
That movement is normal bargaining. For this reason, the Encore Headquarters is intended to show members the progress of bargaining, including which articles are active, which have been agreed to, and which have not yet been addressed without publishing every draft exchanged between the parties.
What Member Direction Means
The membership provides broader direction for bargaining. The Bargaining Committee is responsible for taking that direction and negotiating within it.
The survey, grievance history, committee feedback, member concerns, operational experience and comparisons with other agreements help identify where change is needed.
They do not necessarily dictate the exact wording of a proposal, or the specific way an issue will ultimately be resolved. That work happens through negotiations, where proposals are exchanged, challenged, revised, and tested against the rest of the Collective Agreement.
What Members Can Expect
Members should continue to have a clear understanding of where bargaining stands and the areas where progress is being made. Our updates and the Encore Bargaining Headquarters will continue to provide that broader view as negotiations move forward.
If the parties reach a tentative agreement, the focus of communication changes. At that stage, members will receive the information needed to understand the proposed changes, the overall package, and what it means for the bargaining unit before making a decision on ratification.
Throughout the process, the Bargaining Committee’s responsibility is to represent the entire bargaining unit, communicate responsibly, and preserve the ability to negotiate effectively while bargaining remains active.
Member direction guides the work. The bargaining table is where that direction is turned into collective agreement language.
In Unity,
WestJet Encore Bargaining Committee
Alia Hussain - alia.hussain@wjcomponent.ca
Jennifer Kuhnert - jennifer.kuhnert@wjcomponent.ca
Natasha Selby - natasha.selby@wjcomponent.ca
Maria Gaw - maria.gaw@wjcomponent.ca