Dear Encore Members,
Today, your Bargaining Committee has taken an important step in our ongoing negotiations with WestJet Encore by formally issuing a Notice of Dispute to the federal Minister of Labour.
This decision was not made lightly. We have spent months working to negotiate meaningful improvements to your wages, working conditions, and the priorities you identified. While some progress has been made over the past 7 months, the pace of negotiations has been slow, and our most important issues remain open.
We know you want to see these negotiations conclude. We share that sentiment and understand the importance of reaching an agreement. However, we also have a responsibility to ensure that the agreement we bring forward delivers the meaningful changes you have been waiting for.
We want to be particularly direct about something.
Encore Flight Attendants are among the lowest-paid flight attendants in the Canadian airline industry, despite working for an airline within the second-largest airline group in Canada. That is unacceptable, and it needs to change.
You carry the same fundamental safety responsibilities as flight attendants across this industry. You are trained professionals who contribute every day to the success of this airline, and your compensation and working conditions need to better reflect that contribution. Achieving meaningful change takes more than a Bargaining Committee sitting across the table from the Company.
We have said this before, and will continue to say it because it is one of the most important things our membership needs to understand:
Your Bargaining Committee is only one part of our bargaining strength. The overwhelming majority of that strength comes from YOU.
We can negotiate, present proposals, challenge the Company's positions, and advocate for the improvements you deserve. We cannot create the collective power necessary to achieve those improvements without an informed, engaged, and united membership standing behind us. That means reading our communications, talking to your colleagues, participating in Union initiatives, responding when your Member Engagement & Strike Committee reaches out, and understanding what is at stake.
This is not about asking everyone to agree on every issue. It is about recognizing that our ability to achieve meaningful improvements overall depends on our willingness to work together toward shared goals.
We are also navigating an unprecedented period of uncertainty for federally regulated workers. The federal government's proposed Bill C-39 raises significant concerns about the future of collective bargaining and the ability of workers to exercise their right to strike without government intervention.
The rights we have today cannot be taken for granted tomorrow. Now more than ever, we need to understand them, pay attention to what is changing, and recognize the importance of protecting them.
We also want you to know that we will be calling upon our Mainline colleagues for their solidarity and support. We are one Local, and the strength of our membership extends beyond either individual bargaining unit. A Notice of Dispute does not mean we are going on strike. It is a formal step in the federal conciliation process; we will be providing a separate communication explaining what this means, what it does not mean and what comes next.
For now, our message is simple.
We need you engaged. We need you informed. We need you standing together.
Our goal is not simply to conclude another round of bargaining. It is to make meaningful progress toward changing what it means to build a career at WestJet Encore.
We have an opportunity to make those changes, but we will not achieve them through the efforts of a Bargaining Committee alone.
We need you now, more than ever.
In Unity - Bargaining Committee.
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