Just weeks after Sunwing pilots filed a complaint at the Canada Industrial Relations Board, alleging the airline bargained in bad faith during a recent round of negotiations because it already knew the company was being sold to WestJet, their union is appealing to Ottawa to make the acquisition conditional on jobs.
"Unifor is concerned that, despite the promises made to create jobs, this acquisition will actually lead to more sub-contracted work with lower wages and precarious conditions," said Scott Doherty, Executive Assistant to Unifor's National President. "Not only that, the number of jobs may also decline."
On 02MAR 2022, Sunwing and WestJet announced that WestJet would purchase Sunwing, pending regulatory approval.
In JUL, on behalf of the 450 Sunwing pilots it represents, Unifor filed the Labour Board complaint against Sunwing. The airline denies the allegations in the complaint. But now the union is upping the ante, saying that WestJet, if it's to be permitted to acquire Sunwing, must ensure Canadian jobs are protected, says Unifor.
Unifor represents 16,000 members across Canada in the aviation sector, including nearly 2,000 directly affected by the potential acquisition of Sunwing by WestJet, including 450 Sunwing pilots, 800 WestJet customer service representatives in Calgary and Vancouver and more being added in Toronto soon.
There are also 550 members who work for Swissport, a contract company doing work for Sunwing in Vancouver and Toronto and 41 members at ATS, who perform work contracted by WestJet.
In its 'Submission to Transport Canada’s Public Interest Review of the Proposed Acquistion of Sunwing by WestJet,' Unifor recommends the Canadian government block the acquisition unless WestJet can guarantee job creation, invest in workers across the company to improve job quality and customer experience, and respect and accept existing collective agreements.
In the pilot union's view, Transport Canada and the Competition Bureau "must consider that WestJet's acquisition of Sunwing may have a deep and negative effect on Canadian jobs," says Unifor, after filing its public interest submission on 22JUL 2022.
Unifor "is concerned that this acquisition will actually lead to a decrease in the quality of employment sustained by the new entity and that the quantity of employment will actually decline, not increase," a statement on its web site says.
"We know how working in aviation currently feels like a pressure cooker environment from our members," said Leslie Dias, Unifor's Director of Airlines.
"This merger between Sunwing and WestJet needs to make the industry better, not worse."
