WestJet’s labour dispute with its flight attendants moved quickly from threatened job action to a nationwide work stoppage over the August long weekend. After months of bargaining, a strike vote, formal strike and lockout notices, and widespread flight cancellations, approximately 4,400 WestJet flight attendants represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 8125 went on strike on August 2, 2026.

The strike was brief. WestJet and CUPE announced a tentative agreement on August 3, allowing the airline to begin restoring operations. The dispute nevertheless provides a useful illustration of how collective bargaining, compensation structures, operational planning, and public communications intersect in a federally regulated workplace.

What Led to the WestJet Strike?

WestJet and CUPE Local 8125 had been negotiating a new collective agreement covering approximately 4,400 flight attendants. The previous agreement expired at the end of 2025, and the parties spent months negotiating before the union issued a formal notice of dispute in April 2026.

Compensation was among the most prominent issues. The union argued that flight attendants should be more directly paid for duties performed while aircraft were on the ground, including boarding, delays, safety checks, and responsibilities before departure and after landing. WestJet maintained that its flight-credit system already accounted for ground duties to some extent and proposed additional compensation through a duty-period premium.

On July 15, more than 99 percent of voting union members authorized strike action. CUPE issued a 72-hour strike notice on July 30, while WestJet responded with a lockout notice. When negotiations failed to produce an agreement, flight attendants began striking shortly after midnight on August 2.

The Strike and Its Impact on WestJet Operations

WestJet began reducing its schedule before the strike formally started, cancelling flights and repositioning aircraft in anticipation of a possible work stoppage.

Once the strike began, the airline suspended its scheduled Boeing 737 and 787 operations. Hundreds of flights were cancelled, with WestJet estimating that approximately 250,000 travellers were affected.

The disruption illustrates why employers in sectors such as aviation may need to begin contingency planning before a lawful work stoppage starts. Other employers may face similar questions involving inventory, security, customer commitments, technology access, suppliers, payroll, or equipment.

How the WestJet Strike Ended

WestJet and CUPE announced a tentative agreement on August 3, roughly a day after strike action began. Flight attendants returned to work while the airline began rebuilding its schedule.

According to CUPE, the proposed three-year agreement would run from January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2028. It includes wage improvements and retroactive pay, along with changes involving scheduling, reserve provisions, vacation, benefits, allowances, layovers, and other working conditions.

The agreement also introduces a duty-period premium intended to recognize more of the time flight attendants spend performing required duties outside traditional flight-credit hours. As of August 18, the agreement is not yet final. CUPE members began voting on ratification on August 17, with voting scheduled to continue until August 24.

A Resolution Reached Without Federal Intervention

The federal government did not end the strike by directing the parties to arbitration or ordering them back to work.

Before the strike, CUPE had publicly urged the government not to intervene under section 107 of the Canada Labour Code. Instead, WestJet and CUPE reached a tentative settlement through negotiations after the strike began.

The outcome demonstrates that a work stoppage does not necessarily end bargaining. Strikes and lockouts are forms of economic pressure, and negotiations may continue during job action.

Why Federal Labour Law Applied

Although WestJet employs workers across Canada, its labour relations are governed federally. Airlines and several other interprovincial industries fall under federal jurisdiction rather than provincial legislation such as Ontario’s Labour Relations Act, 1995.

Part I of the Canada Labour Code governs collective bargaining, strikes, lockouts, unfair labour practices, replacement workers, and related issues in federally regulated workplaces.

For Toronto workplaces, this means the physical location of an employee does not necessarily determine which labour statute applies. The nature of the employer’s operations may instead determine the governing regime.

A Strike Vote Does Not Automatically Start a Strike

The WestJet dispute also illustrates the difference between a strike vote and an actual work stoppage. CUPE members authorized strike action on July 15, but the strike did not begin until August 2. A successful strike vote gives a union a mandate to take labour action, but statutory and procedural requirements must generally still be satisfied.

Under the federal collective bargaining process, parties ordinarily proceed through bargaining, conciliation, and a cooling-off period before acquiring the legal right to strike or lock out. At least 72 hours of advance notice is also required.

A strike notice, therefore, increases bargaining pressure but does not make a work stoppage inevitable.

Compensation for Work Outside Flight Time

One of the most significant issues in the WestJet dispute was how employees are compensated for duties performed outside traditional flight time. Flight attendants may complete safety checks, attend briefings, board passengers, manage delays, prepare cabins, and perform post-flight duties while an aircraft remains on the ground.

CUPE sought compensation that more directly recognized this time. WestJet maintained that its flight-credit system already compensated cabin crew more broadly while also proposing additional duty-period payments. The tentative settlement retains the flight-credit model but adds a duty-period premium designed to increase compensation for required work outside traditional flight-credit hours.

Comparable issues can arise in other industries involving preparation time, mandatory training, equipment checks, administrative duties, on-call work, and tasks performed before or after scheduled shifts.

Replacement Workers Under the Canada Labour Code

The WestJet strike occurred under federal replacement-worker rules that came into force on June 20, 2025. The amended Canada Labour Code generally prohibits federally regulated employers from using certain employees, managers, contractors, or newly hired workers to perform bargaining-unit work during a lawful strike or lockout.

Limited exceptions apply in circumstances involving serious health or safety threats, risks of property destruction, or environmental harm.

These restrictions can significantly affect contingency planning. Employers must distinguish between safely reducing or preserving operations and assigning striking employees’ work to others.

Maintenance of Activities and Public Safety

Federal labour legislation also requires certain activities to continue where stopping them during a strike or lockout would create an immediate and serious danger to public health or safety.

This does not mean every economically important service must continue. The focus is on preventing serious health or safety risks rather than inconvenience or financial loss.

The maintenance-of-activities process was amended in June 2025, requiring these issues to be addressed earlier in the bargaining process before strike or lockout notices can be issued.

Communications Can Shape a Labour Dispute

The WestJet dispute also played out publicly. WestJet emphasized proposed increases to wages and compensation, while CUPE focused on ground duties, scheduling, unpaid work, and broader working conditions.

Public communications may target employees, customers, investors, government officials, and the public. However, employers and unions must continue to comply with their statutory obligations while presenting their positions.

Communications planning may therefore form part of a broader labour relations strategy rather than simply a public relations exercise.

What Toronto Workplaces Can Learn From the WestJet Strike

The WestJet dispute demonstrates the progression of a modern federal labour dispute: bargaining, conciliation, a strike vote, formal notice, advance operational reductions, a work stoppage, continued negotiations, and a tentative settlement. It also shows that the effects of a strike may begin before employees stop working. WestJet began cancelling flights and repositioning aircraft in advance because reducing a national airline network required significant preparation.

At the same time, the settlement reinforces the continuing role of collective bargaining after a strike begins. Rather than ending negotiations, the work stoppage was followed by a tentative agreement within roughly a day.

For Toronto employers, unions, and employees in federally regulated industries, the dispute highlights the importance of understanding jurisdiction, statutory timelines, compensation structures, operational risks, communications, and lawful contingency planning.

Grosman Gale Fletcher Hopkins LLP: Toronto Labour Lawyers for Collective Bargaining Matters

Collective bargaining, strike preparation, lockout notices, replacement-worker restrictions, maintenance-of-activities requirements, and disputes arising during work stoppages can raise complex questions under the Canada Labour Code.

The dynamic labour lawyers of Grosman Gale Fletcher Hopkins LLP assist both provincially and federally regulated employers, unions, and workplace stakeholders with collective bargaining matters, Canada Industrial Relations Board proceedings, unfair labour practice complaints, statutory compliance, and work-stoppage planning. Contact us online or call (416) 364-9599 to discuss labour relations matters affecting workplaces in Toronto, the GTA, Ontario, and across Canada.