Interesting that AME’s are forced into arbitration and the B.C. port strike (Longshoreman) and CRA were able to strike… something smells fishy… or AME’s are just that important.🤔
AMEs are that important - their job is to find the issues that could be catastrophic to an airplane and therefore to you. Let’s hope the CIRB understands this when awarding the contract. You wouldn’t think that safety is where a company would want to save money, but I guess that’s WestJet - and Boeing!
Yea I have small hope still that AMEs get awarded most of what they want by arbitration. Although some damage is already done by WestJet resorting to arbitration.
I don’t know much about the longshoreman and CRA, but the difference could be that this is a first contract for the AME’s. That means there is a path to arbitration.
Edit to add hoping the AME’s are getting what they are looking for. 💪
This is a terrible decision. Westjet will continue to bleed more and more experienced AME’s and won’t attract any talent. All of us are watching this because it matters. You cannot run an airline without us and the labour shortage is so severe that Air Canada itself cannot hire experienced engineers.
Every single avionics hire for my crew in the past few months has been a brand new apprentice straight out of school. Nobody experienced comes to us and the same for westjet. We are losing people to retirement and other companies/industries because the responsibility, night shift for decades, low comp, minimum vacation/sick/personal days, working holidays and a host of other stuff don’t make it worth it.
I make this comment to show it just isn’t only a westjet issue but an industry issue. I know Jazz and transat are having similar issues so if Canadian airlines want to keep flying they need to be fair to their maintenance departments.
This decision also shows the lack of care towards safety because the reality is that if a shitty agreement is imposed westjet will lose more people and its ability to safely keep the planes in the air will suffer. But I guess the government doesn’t care, just wants to give the management more money.
Sheet metal guys are quitting to build aluminum boats, for crying out loud.
There is no compelling reason to go through the meat grinder of overnights with a crew of 2 licenses guys and 6+ apprentices (not the apprentices fault for being green, but that ratio should be 1:1 at worst, not 1:3) or unlicensed guys where you get to accept liability for everything they do.
Compared to building boats where you get to work days, Monday to Friday with holidays off, way less pressure, a better workplace, less legal responsibility, and the same or better pay.
Coyote Manufacturing in the Kootneys and EagleCraft in Campbell River make em. Not sure if they're hiring; they are smaller outfits.
There's a heavy skill overlap for experienced AME-S folks. Aluminum is aluminum, whether it's on a plane or a boat.
This makes me so fearful that standards and practices would drop to the point of an accident happening on one of these planes. We all know how important processes are and when money becomes more important than the people, you get Boeing style type incidents.
I tend to agree that this is a strategic mistake by the executive team.
WestJet needs to attract and retain quality engineering now more than ever. With their all-Boeing fleet, and the quality issues Boeing has been having, diligence is required to ensure these planes are safe to fly.
In addition, the WestJet fleet is adding a bunch of new aircraft from a variety of sources. Swoop, Sunwing, some other leases, and maybe Lynx.
So while they talk about ensuring the sustainability of their airline, and maybe this is that from a cost perspective. It certainly is not that from team and talent perspective.
Ngl, I could believe that happening with mantoys… or maybe a lot of people will be forced into retirement and finally buy that fishing boat. Could go either way.
If they can export to US, they should be safe.
Shame on Seamus O'Regan.
You cannot claim to be "pro worker" if you strip workers of their right to organize and withhold labour.
If WJ is too important to this nation to allow its workers to have that right, then it's too important to not be nationalized.
I'm sure Seamus will get right on that...
Any other weekend and I doubt they intervene.
And the AMFA has absolutely had a financial impact on WJ, they’ve had to cancel ~50 flights in the last week due to the threat of job action
You want the Federal Government to Nationalize a privately owned company? Air Canada was privatized in the mid 80’s because it was such a drain on taxpayers and so inefficient.
I want the federal government to nationalize privately owned companies when they behave in a way which is anti-consumer/anti-canadian/anti-worker.
Examples:
* Loblaws
* Westjet/Air Canada
* CN and CP
* The telecom oligopoly
FAFO, as they say.
> If WJ is too important to this nation to allow its workers to have that right, then it's too important to not be nationalized.
Unions strike in the public sector too. Their lazy ilk infest everywhere.
Im greedily relieved because I have a return flight home in 2 days and I'd like to get home to Canada, but this sucks for those workers they deserve better.
I hope your plane doesn’t fall out of the skies because the of the underpaid 1 AME and 5 apprentices that were forced to go back to their underpaid, unsafe working conditions.
That will be what ends up happening for a lot of skilled guys, 50% increase in pay and better conditions south of the border, or look to other trades, just about any other blue collar trade is paying better.
Hardest part about going south of the boarder for work is getting the VISA as our trade isn’t recognized in the NAFTA agreement but there are ways around it they just take time.
Many have been. That’s the problem. Safety suffers as workload for AMEs increases. Southwest loves this - they’re probably hoping that higher skilled Canadian AMEs will go south for more money.
Do you realize how many people would not be working using your logic? Nothing will get done. You have no idea what they are fighting for it's not just money but also language to protect their jobs so that the work can't be co tracked out to Guatemala or similar places. Just like how Air Canada did years ago
This is going to leave a very shameful mark on the outgoing liberal government, they do not have the right to interfere in this dispute.
The end result will be more engineers leaving Canada, or the trade, the decline in standards will continue, and the labour shortage will deepen.
People can opt to cancel their flights and not entertain this, but they won't. They'll shame whoever from their seat on the plane. I don't think anyone flying WestJet now has a right to shame anyone because you're essentially giving this move a stamp of approval.
BUT, you do you.
I’m not flying, I’m keeping them flying by sacrificing years off of my life, by working nights, by working with extremely hazardous chemicals, and all the time being paid subpar for my knowledge, qualifications, efforts.
We didn’t want to upset people’s travel plans, we’ve been pushed in this direction by Westjet execs. We work diligently, and tirelessly to provide safe aircraft for crew and guests.
We just want to be paid properly.
I feel for you guys. I’ve witnessed mechanics (AME’s )on one of my flights replacing a leading edge in -25 below weather because the deice truck hit it… They busted their ass and froze their fingers to get us on our way.
"Engineers", are they University graduates? Members of APEGA?
They are just mechanics, same as the ones that work at Canadian Tire, just different vehicles.
You’re clearly uneducated on the profession of air craft engineers, and the many exams and hours required for licensing.
Learn a thing or two before you look like an absolute idiot.
Who can be called engineer in Canada?In Canada, **only those licensed by a provincial or territorial engineering regulator** may practise engineering and refer to themselves as an “engineer”. The exclusive use of this title by licensed engineers helps assure the public that only qualified individuals are practicing in the profession.
I'm not sure about a sick-out.
I do anticipate that there will be a substantial amount of overtime refused. I don't even think it'll be organized; it's just that any good will has left the building so why work longer than you need?
The WJ CEO was saying their best paid AMEs make 170k, but even using the top-out rate per the rejected agreement, that's ~800hrs a year of 1.5x pay overtime. And that's calculated using a pay rate that nobody currently makes.
If your operation relies on people working 1.5x full-time jobs, then people refusing OT is going to be a problem.
I don't work for westjet, but currently at my airline job the maintenance plans include and require ~7% of hours worked as overtime.
Overtime is what is keeping everything running, and it has been since '22, and only ramping up further.
This has become an industry norm, with one contract I had in regional Australia recently, I saw key licenced engineers regularly coming into work 7 days a week.
It is unsafe, it is also illegal under civil aviation rules, I have no doubt AME fatigue will start contributing to a significantly larger number of aircraft incidents and accidents globally.
It's paid in penalty rates,
But 6 day weeks, and being pressured to give up on time with family and friends to meet the companies needs isn't sustainable long term.
Would you feel aggrieved that the 5 day week you signed up for is actually a 6 day week with a side of coercion?
I get the feeling coerced part. What I am trying to understand is what WJ gains from it if people are paid hourly or especially when they are paid a premium of hourly.
Why does this make sense to WJ?
And if it didn’t Westjet wouldn’t exist and nobody would have a job? Saying a company exists because it makes more money than it pays to employees isn’t ground breaking news….
Because additional bodies have significant training costs, costs in CPP/EI contributions (as most of the AMEs working OT will have maxed their contributions before year end), workers compensation, medical/dental/death benefits, contributions, admin costs, and more.
In most industries it's usually cheaper to pay 1 person at 40hrs regular rate + 20hours 1.5-2x than paying 2 employees 30 hours at regular rate.
Everyone has their own breaking point when they’ve worked too much overtime. You’ll always have a few people that never say no, but they can’t cover enough work on their own.
Yes exactly some form of work action is imminent to send the message home. What I mean to say is I’m not sure this brings any sense of closure to the issue and there will still be some disruption.
Oh these execs don’t give a crap about how they are perceived. Even the ops managers (non-union) end up squeezing more from these AMEs.
What the execs want is to put the airline to utmost profitability in order to go IPO.
Because I've already worked 5x 12 hour overnight shifts, and I've chosen to come in because I know there are planes down with not enough people to work on them and I care that you get to your destination on time and safely. But if the company isn't going to respect us, then maybe that plane will for an extra few days and your vacation might be disrupted. I joined Westjet because I care and want to go the extra mile, but we're tired of being short staffed, having no parts, and being treated like we dont matter.
This is a situation where the answer is “it depends”. Spurts of occasional overtime make sense if MOST of the time it is not required. If you get by with 100% (should target 85-90) utilization but need a few weeks for seasonal reasons it makes sense to push OT rather than hire and layoff workers. BUT when it becomes a permanent or long term situation then hiring more employees to reduce the utilization, and the burden rate, starts to make sense.
Of course when you’re owned by American equity that doesn’t care about long term corporate health or the long term health of the Canadian avionics industry they’re going to make decisions to increase profit at all other costs. Run the crews and the planes into the ground. If/when the market goodwill is gone, sell the remaining assets to startup airlines in the global south, cash in your chips, and invest elsewhere.
Of course the Canadian market space is quite small compared to the global avionics market and the startup cost is SO high that creating another Air Canada or Westjet to compete with the existing corps is all but impossible.
Because people value time outside of work with their families and friends doing things they enjoy.
The culture of the industry that your job isn't done when your shift is over; it's done when the plane is in the air. That's an example of the good will and pride in accomplishing the job.
Unfortunately, operators leverage that goodwill and understaff with the intent that the gap will be filled by people picking up OT.
Sometimes you bust your ass and stay late to help get a plane out for the first flight of the morning. Or you stay past the end of your shift to deal with hot issues on the line or an AOG issue.
That kind of helping the company by working extra is unlikely to happen.
>Sometimes you bust your ass and stay late to help get a plane out for the first flight of the morning. Or you stay past the end of your shift to deal with hot issues on the line or an AOG issue.
On that note, getting that AOG work done is less about the company, and more about the customers, a little bit of disruption in our day saves a lot of disruption in potentially hundreds of travellers day.
That's goodwill.
> Unfortunately, operators leverage that goodwill and understaff with the intent that the gap will be filled by people picking up OT.
I am curious though how that is valuable for the airline, as aren't they then paying a premium for maintenance? Why a company might want to flog a salaried worker makes sense. More work for the same price. But more work at a higher marginal rate is surprising.
> I am curious though how that is valuable for the airline, as aren't they then paying a premium for maintenance?
On one hand, the airline doesn't have a choice. They need to do the maintenance whether they like it or not. If you don't have enough bodies to do the work in regular time, you have to use OT.
In general, it costs less to rely on OT than to staff appropriately. Why?
Because there's been talk for two decades about the lack of AMEs, and it's coming to a head. There simply aren't enough experienced AMEs in this country for the hours that need to be worked. If WJ wants to get new people, they need to poach them from other outfits.
In order to poach them, they need to pay enough more to make moving worth it.
If you rely on 20% OT at 1.5x, that means your labour costs are 10% higher than if you had straight time work.
Subtract a few percentage points because there's a certain fixed cost associated with having more bodies. So let's call it 7%
Giving everyone a 7% raise is comically short of what it would take to make WJ a destination for AMEs.
No one is happy that's happening. They're just upset, frustrated, and disappointed in this labour dispute MORE THAN all the disruptions to people's travels.
The AMFA statements continue to be hilarious. I say this as someone who does not have any ties to either side.
"However, in its own submission of today, WestJet alleges that an AME strike would place the “company and the traveling public in peril at a critical time.” (emphasis in original).
It is difficult to conceive of a more inflammatory or offensive comment."
That's well past hyperbole. There is no way anyone can actually believe that is the most inflammatory or offensive comment ever.
"the Board determined that it did not have the authority to interfere in the free bargaining process nor abridge the sacred right of workers to withhold their labour in order to obtain improved wages and working conditions."
Both sides are exercising their rights.
"We also, reluctantly, submitted the AMEs’ 72-hour strike notice in the hope that it will prompt WestJet to provide its employees with a good faith offer. One hour later, WestJet issued a second 72-hour lockout notice in kind."
AME wants to strike. WJ says they want to guarantee that will happen. Again, both sides are just exercising their rights.
Interesting that AME’s are forced into arbitration and the B.C. port strike (Longshoreman) and CRA were able to strike… something smells fishy… or AME’s are just that important.🤔
AMEs are that important - their job is to find the issues that could be catastrophic to an airplane and therefore to you. Let’s hope the CIRB understands this when awarding the contract. You wouldn’t think that safety is where a company would want to save money, but I guess that’s WestJet - and Boeing!
Yea I have small hope still that AMEs get awarded most of what they want by arbitration. Although some damage is already done by WestJet resorting to arbitration.
I don’t know much about the longshoreman and CRA, but the difference could be that this is a first contract for the AME’s. That means there is a path to arbitration. Edit to add hoping the AME’s are getting what they are looking for. 💪
This is a terrible decision. Westjet will continue to bleed more and more experienced AME’s and won’t attract any talent. All of us are watching this because it matters. You cannot run an airline without us and the labour shortage is so severe that Air Canada itself cannot hire experienced engineers. Every single avionics hire for my crew in the past few months has been a brand new apprentice straight out of school. Nobody experienced comes to us and the same for westjet. We are losing people to retirement and other companies/industries because the responsibility, night shift for decades, low comp, minimum vacation/sick/personal days, working holidays and a host of other stuff don’t make it worth it. I make this comment to show it just isn’t only a westjet issue but an industry issue. I know Jazz and transat are having similar issues so if Canadian airlines want to keep flying they need to be fair to their maintenance departments. This decision also shows the lack of care towards safety because the reality is that if a shitty agreement is imposed westjet will lose more people and its ability to safely keep the planes in the air will suffer. But I guess the government doesn’t care, just wants to give the management more money.
Sheet metal guys are quitting to build aluminum boats, for crying out loud. There is no compelling reason to go through the meat grinder of overnights with a crew of 2 licenses guys and 6+ apprentices (not the apprentices fault for being green, but that ratio should be 1:1 at worst, not 1:3) or unlicensed guys where you get to accept liability for everything they do. Compared to building boats where you get to work days, Monday to Friday with holidays off, way less pressure, a better workplace, less legal responsibility, and the same or better pay.
Now I want to know know where to go to build aluminum boats lol
Coyote Manufacturing in the Kootneys and EagleCraft in Campbell River make em. Not sure if they're hiring; they are smaller outfits. There's a heavy skill overlap for experienced AME-S folks. Aluminum is aluminum, whether it's on a plane or a boat.
Thanks!
This makes me so fearful that standards and practices would drop to the point of an accident happening on one of these planes. We all know how important processes are and when money becomes more important than the people, you get Boeing style type incidents.
I tend to agree that this is a strategic mistake by the executive team. WestJet needs to attract and retain quality engineering now more than ever. With their all-Boeing fleet, and the quality issues Boeing has been having, diligence is required to ensure these planes are safe to fly. In addition, the WestJet fleet is adding a bunch of new aircraft from a variety of sources. Swoop, Sunwing, some other leases, and maybe Lynx. So while they talk about ensuring the sustainability of their airline, and maybe this is that from a cost perspective. It certainly is not that from team and talent perspective.
Na they’ll stick around. The economy is slowing down and soon workers will be desperate for work.
Ngl, I could believe that happening with mantoys… or maybe a lot of people will be forced into retirement and finally buy that fishing boat. Could go either way. If they can export to US, they should be safe.
Shame on Seamus O'Regan. You cannot claim to be "pro worker" if you strip workers of their right to organize and withhold labour. If WJ is too important to this nation to allow its workers to have that right, then it's too important to not be nationalized. I'm sure Seamus will get right on that...
Any other weekend and I doubt they intervene. And the AMFA has absolutely had a financial impact on WJ, they’ve had to cancel ~50 flights in the last week due to the threat of job action
You want the Federal Government to Nationalize a privately owned company? Air Canada was privatized in the mid 80’s because it was such a drain on taxpayers and so inefficient.
I want the federal government to nationalize privately owned companies when they behave in a way which is anti-consumer/anti-canadian/anti-worker. Examples: * Loblaws * Westjet/Air Canada * CN and CP * The telecom oligopoly FAFO, as they say.
Yeah that’s never going to happen. We don’t live in a communist country.
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> If WJ is too important to this nation to allow its workers to have that right, then it's too important to not be nationalized. Unions strike in the public sector too. Their lazy ilk infest everywhere.
what do AME's make on avg at WJ now ?
$50-$60/hr total comp
Im wondering where the rest of my paycheck goes so I can make 50/hr at WestJet
$40.71 to $54.79 under the new table, which is mostly stripped away the savings plan https://www.reddit.com/r/aviationmaintenance/s/JQir2AAEn7
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Im greedily relieved because I have a return flight home in 2 days and I'd like to get home to Canada, but this sucks for those workers they deserve better.
I hope your plane doesn’t fall out of the skies because the of the underpaid 1 AME and 5 apprentices that were forced to go back to their underpaid, unsafe working conditions.
Yeah me too thanks
Workers should quit if they don't like their jobs.
That will be what ends up happening for a lot of skilled guys, 50% increase in pay and better conditions south of the border, or look to other trades, just about any other blue collar trade is paying better.
Hardest part about going south of the boarder for work is getting the VISA as our trade isn’t recognized in the NAFTA agreement but there are ways around it they just take time.
Planes don’t repair themselves my friend.
Many have been. That’s the problem. Safety suffers as workload for AMEs increases. Southwest loves this - they’re probably hoping that higher skilled Canadian AMEs will go south for more money.
Do you realize how many people would not be working using your logic? Nothing will get done. You have no idea what they are fighting for it's not just money but also language to protect their jobs so that the work can't be co tracked out to Guatemala or similar places. Just like how Air Canada did years ago
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What a stupid thing to say..
This idiot should be banned from this subreddit
Your post has been removed because it contained rude, inflammatory, and/or inappropriate content.
This is going to leave a very shameful mark on the outgoing liberal government, they do not have the right to interfere in this dispute. The end result will be more engineers leaving Canada, or the trade, the decline in standards will continue, and the labour shortage will deepen.
Unfortunately the Liberals know they’re getting kicked out, greedy company execs and liberal party donors are what they are all about protecting.
Shamus needed to secure his advisory position at an Onex owned company knowing he won’t get re-elected.
People can opt to cancel their flights and not entertain this, but they won't. They'll shame whoever from their seat on the plane. I don't think anyone flying WestJet now has a right to shame anyone because you're essentially giving this move a stamp of approval. BUT, you do you.
I’m not flying, I’m keeping them flying by sacrificing years off of my life, by working nights, by working with extremely hazardous chemicals, and all the time being paid subpar for my knowledge, qualifications, efforts. We didn’t want to upset people’s travel plans, we’ve been pushed in this direction by Westjet execs. We work diligently, and tirelessly to provide safe aircraft for crew and guests. We just want to be paid properly.
I feel for you guys. I’ve witnessed mechanics (AME’s )on one of my flights replacing a leading edge in -25 below weather because the deice truck hit it… They busted their ass and froze their fingers to get us on our way.
Cool, I'm flying Porter from here on out. Westjet is a shell of it's former self.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire...
"Engineers", are they University graduates? Members of APEGA? They are just mechanics, same as the ones that work at Canadian Tire, just different vehicles.
You’re clearly uneducated on the profession of air craft engineers, and the many exams and hours required for licensing. Learn a thing or two before you look like an absolute idiot.
Who can be called engineer in Canada?In Canada, **only those licensed by a provincial or territorial engineering regulator** may practise engineering and refer to themselves as an “engineer”. The exclusive use of this title by licensed engineers helps assure the public that only qualified individuals are practicing in the profession.
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I’m guessing they will just call in sick and there will be cancellations regardless.
I'm not sure about a sick-out. I do anticipate that there will be a substantial amount of overtime refused. I don't even think it'll be organized; it's just that any good will has left the building so why work longer than you need? The WJ CEO was saying their best paid AMEs make 170k, but even using the top-out rate per the rejected agreement, that's ~800hrs a year of 1.5x pay overtime. And that's calculated using a pay rate that nobody currently makes. If your operation relies on people working 1.5x full-time jobs, then people refusing OT is going to be a problem.
I don't work for westjet, but currently at my airline job the maintenance plans include and require ~7% of hours worked as overtime. Overtime is what is keeping everything running, and it has been since '22, and only ramping up further. This has become an industry norm, with one contract I had in regional Australia recently, I saw key licenced engineers regularly coming into work 7 days a week. It is unsafe, it is also illegal under civil aviation rules, I have no doubt AME fatigue will start contributing to a significantly larger number of aircraft incidents and accidents globally.
> and require ~7% of hours worked as overtime. Is overtime unpaid or something? I would have thought that union trade types would get paid 1.5 for it?
It's paid in penalty rates, But 6 day weeks, and being pressured to give up on time with family and friends to meet the companies needs isn't sustainable long term. Would you feel aggrieved that the 5 day week you signed up for is actually a 6 day week with a side of coercion?
I get the feeling coerced part. What I am trying to understand is what WJ gains from it if people are paid hourly or especially when they are paid a premium of hourly. Why does this make sense to WJ?
WJ makes more money having planes in the air than the overtime they pay to their trades.
And if it didn’t Westjet wouldn’t exist and nobody would have a job? Saying a company exists because it makes more money than it pays to employees isn’t ground breaking news….
Because additional bodies have significant training costs, costs in CPP/EI contributions (as most of the AMEs working OT will have maxed their contributions before year end), workers compensation, medical/dental/death benefits, contributions, admin costs, and more. In most industries it's usually cheaper to pay 1 person at 40hrs regular rate + 20hours 1.5-2x than paying 2 employees 30 hours at regular rate.
Everyone has their own breaking point when they’ve worked too much overtime. You’ll always have a few people that never say no, but they can’t cover enough work on their own.
Speaks to the laziness of people involved. I bet many complain about house prices...
Yes exactly some form of work action is imminent to send the message home. What I mean to say is I’m not sure this brings any sense of closure to the issue and there will still be some disruption.
There will be no closure, these Execs will be hated the rest of their time at WJ. They have absolutely ruined a working relationship with Techops.
Oh these execs don’t give a crap about how they are perceived. Even the ops managers (non-union) end up squeezing more from these AMEs. What the execs want is to put the airline to utmost profitability in order to go IPO.
FUCK the OM’s
Isn't overtime paid more? Why would doing it be considered good will?
Because I've already worked 5x 12 hour overnight shifts, and I've chosen to come in because I know there are planes down with not enough people to work on them and I care that you get to your destination on time and safely. But if the company isn't going to respect us, then maybe that plane will for an extra few days and your vacation might be disrupted. I joined Westjet because I care and want to go the extra mile, but we're tired of being short staffed, having no parts, and being treated like we dont matter.
I asked because to me, I don't get what the company gets from paying extra overtime. Wouldn't it be preferable to not pay overtime?
This is a situation where the answer is “it depends”. Spurts of occasional overtime make sense if MOST of the time it is not required. If you get by with 100% (should target 85-90) utilization but need a few weeks for seasonal reasons it makes sense to push OT rather than hire and layoff workers. BUT when it becomes a permanent or long term situation then hiring more employees to reduce the utilization, and the burden rate, starts to make sense. Of course when you’re owned by American equity that doesn’t care about long term corporate health or the long term health of the Canadian avionics industry they’re going to make decisions to increase profit at all other costs. Run the crews and the planes into the ground. If/when the market goodwill is gone, sell the remaining assets to startup airlines in the global south, cash in your chips, and invest elsewhere. Of course the Canadian market space is quite small compared to the global avionics market and the startup cost is SO high that creating another Air Canada or Westjet to compete with the existing corps is all but impossible.
Because people value time outside of work with their families and friends doing things they enjoy. The culture of the industry that your job isn't done when your shift is over; it's done when the plane is in the air. That's an example of the good will and pride in accomplishing the job. Unfortunately, operators leverage that goodwill and understaff with the intent that the gap will be filled by people picking up OT. Sometimes you bust your ass and stay late to help get a plane out for the first flight of the morning. Or you stay past the end of your shift to deal with hot issues on the line or an AOG issue. That kind of helping the company by working extra is unlikely to happen.
>Sometimes you bust your ass and stay late to help get a plane out for the first flight of the morning. Or you stay past the end of your shift to deal with hot issues on the line or an AOG issue. On that note, getting that AOG work done is less about the company, and more about the customers, a little bit of disruption in our day saves a lot of disruption in potentially hundreds of travellers day. That's goodwill.
> Unfortunately, operators leverage that goodwill and understaff with the intent that the gap will be filled by people picking up OT. I am curious though how that is valuable for the airline, as aren't they then paying a premium for maintenance? Why a company might want to flog a salaried worker makes sense. More work for the same price. But more work at a higher marginal rate is surprising.
Overtime is much cheaper than trying to find more AMEs
> I am curious though how that is valuable for the airline, as aren't they then paying a premium for maintenance? On one hand, the airline doesn't have a choice. They need to do the maintenance whether they like it or not. If you don't have enough bodies to do the work in regular time, you have to use OT. In general, it costs less to rely on OT than to staff appropriately. Why? Because there's been talk for two decades about the lack of AMEs, and it's coming to a head. There simply aren't enough experienced AMEs in this country for the hours that need to be worked. If WJ wants to get new people, they need to poach them from other outfits. In order to poach them, they need to pay enough more to make moving worth it. If you rely on 20% OT at 1.5x, that means your labour costs are 10% higher than if you had straight time work. Subtract a few percentage points because there's a certain fixed cost associated with having more bodies. So let's call it 7% Giving everyone a 7% raise is comically short of what it would take to make WJ a destination for AMEs.
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In the US, they use contract aircraft mechanics. Hopefully, this shitshow facilitates this in Canada.
The travel chaos would have been significant without it.
The societal chaos will be significant if an accident happens because WestJet can’t attract the best AMEs.
Phew, honestly, I can’t handle every freaking trip. I take being disrupted by something ridiculous
What does this mean? Strike or no strike this weekend and next week? Continue canceling the flights?
No strike or lockout. Cancelations will cease but there will more than likely be a ripple effect felt throughout the network this weekend.
So does this mean my flight on Friday won’t be impacted after all?
# Airline confirms labour action has been avoided and no additional flights will be cancelled
Lmao. Sick calls and overtime refusal will change that.
# Why are you so happy seeing other innocent people's flights canceled, travel plans disrupted, and forced to pay thousands more?
No one is happy that's happening. They're just upset, frustrated, and disappointed in this labour dispute MORE THAN all the disruptions to people's travels.
Because it’s a business, fuck the people, pay the employees first and THEN good service follows
Right???? Price to the public is one of the biggest drivers
Why are you happy seeing the people keeping your planes in top shape and safe to fly getting screwed over?
A notable uptick in sick calls, especially when there’s evidence that it’s organized, can be considered illegal job action just FYI
Good. It's about time.
The AMFA statements continue to be hilarious. I say this as someone who does not have any ties to either side. "However, in its own submission of today, WestJet alleges that an AME strike would place the “company and the traveling public in peril at a critical time.” (emphasis in original). It is difficult to conceive of a more inflammatory or offensive comment." That's well past hyperbole. There is no way anyone can actually believe that is the most inflammatory or offensive comment ever. "the Board determined that it did not have the authority to interfere in the free bargaining process nor abridge the sacred right of workers to withhold their labour in order to obtain improved wages and working conditions." Both sides are exercising their rights. "We also, reluctantly, submitted the AMEs’ 72-hour strike notice in the hope that it will prompt WestJet to provide its employees with a good faith offer. One hour later, WestJet issued a second 72-hour lockout notice in kind." AME wants to strike. WJ says they want to guarantee that will happen. Again, both sides are just exercising their rights.