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WJ MEC and Management playing chicken as MOA #3 expires March 31st


Bobcaygeon

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Letter to the pilots from WJ MEC and the Company to the pilot group on Friday March 8th have stated that the Company made its final offer on Wednesday, March 3rd and the MEC rejected it on Friday March 5th. DFO and Ed Sims sent out messages later in the day that the 415 layoff notices issued on March 1st, effective April 1st will not be retracted.

One wonders how long they can play chicken before the April crew schedule has to be issued.

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1 hour ago, CanadaEH said:

How many pilots have been reduced since the start of COVID? 

I think, somewhere on the forum it was stated that WJ had 1250 pilots and since the beginning they laid of approx 450. If they lay off another  415 then there will be  down to  385....

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9 hours ago, Kip Powick said:

I think, somewhere on the forum it was stated that WJ had 1250 pilots and since the beginning they laid of approx 450. If they lay off another  415 then there will be  down to  385....

Those numbers are a little low Kip.

Pre-Covid we had about 2200 (including WJA, WEN and WSW); right now we have about 1500 active; and if the current MOA expires we’ll be down to about 1100-1200.

T9

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11 minutes ago, Tango Niner said:

Those numbers are a little low Kip.

Pre-Covid we had about 2200 (including WJA, WEN and WSW); right now we have about 1500 active; and if the current MOA expires we’ll be down to about 1100-1200.

T9

I kinda thought so too. My data comes from a line in the Globe and Mail back on Feb 26.....

WestJet has 1,250 pilots in its work force of 5,600. About 5,100 have been laid off since the pandemic caused passenger capacity to be slashed by about 90 per cent, including 450 pilots.

But as we all know....it is the Press..?.(.unless they did not take into account WEN and WSW)

 

My math ....1250 - 450 in  G and M article - 415 in April = 385

Thanks for the clarification......and good luck

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WJ MEC rejected another company offer yesterday. It’s the 13th and sked build is normally in progress.

The only small positive (maybe) is that the ALPA constitution allows the MEC to ratify an agreement without a membership vote so a very last minute deal can be approved by the MEC. In such instances the deal is usually short so the MEC doesn’t get hung by the membership if it’s not a great deal and in this case saves job.

 

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I just can’t see further reductions at this point. If you look at the US domestic market there is a lot of pent up demand for travel. Canadians are sitting on Billions.

Not being in a position to capitalize on the release of that demand?
:Scratch-Head:

I realize WJ is a single fleet type and can spool up faster than say AC.  But how fast realistically?

Why would you layoff people April 1, that you will probably need June 1.  Recency issues alone would be problematic.

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48 minutes ago, Bobcaygeon said:

WJ MEC rejected another company offer yesterday. It’s the 13th and sked build is normally in progress.

The only small positive (maybe) is that the ALPA constitution allows the MEC to ratify an agreement without a membership vote so a very last minute deal can be approved by the MEC. In such instances the deal is usually short so the MEC doesn’t get hung by the membership if it’s not a great deal and in this case saves job.

 

What was the offer? AC is 63 hours to September. Is that offer not on the table at WJ?

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On 3/13/2021 at 9:46 AM, Turbofan said:

I just can’t see further reductions at this point. If you look at the US domestic market there is a lot of pent up demand for travel. Canadians are sitting on Billions.

Not being in a position to capitalize on the release of that demand?
:Scratch-Head:

I realize WJ is a single fleet type and can spool up faster than say AC.  But how fast realistically?

Why would you layoff people April 1, that you will probably need June 1.  Recency issues alone would be problematic.

What makes you think the flood gates will open in June? With a 3rd wave predicted and parts of Ontario already going back into lock down I'm not confident the quarantine requirement will be removed or the land border will open by June.

Hindsight is 20/20 but the Company should hare never signed the previous MOA's and should just laid more off initially and recalled as needed. Recurrent training doesn't take that long and they own the Sims.  

I have a number of friends getting paid 12,800K/month, top rate 737 captain (11 year scale) x 59 hrs, that have only flown one pairing (3 revenue legs in 3 days) this year plus a quick trip to MIA for Max training. That's 38K for very little work in 3 months) 

Why AC signed the last MOA with an increase in MPG from 59 to 63 and other improvements is beyond me now. 

I don't know what was on the table last friday because none of the line pilots know either. A sper usual MECs/NCs hold their cards very close to their chest.

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My point is that what happened with demand domestically in the US was like a switch.  The only way you capitalize on that is by staying in the starter gate.  
 

Perhaps WJ has decided that staying in the starter gate is too expensive.  Or the net payoff not worth it.

This industry is just so competitive I have trouble buying that though.
 

 

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On 3/13/2021 at 10:46 AM, Turbofan said:

I just can’t see further reductions at this point. If you look at the US domestic market there is a lot of pent up demand for travel. Canadians are sitting on Billions

The US pretty much took the approach that everybody looks after themselves during he COVID crisis.  The folks there have gotten used to managing the risk individually on their own.  Here in Canada we kind of followed orders for the most part and let the governments manage the risk for us.  I have a feeling demand here won't pick up like in the US unless the government steps up and officially declares that everybody "should go forth and explore". 

Personally, I figure they should offer to drop all taxes on all flights for a few years just to spur demand or do something like they did in Australia and pay half the airfare on the first million tickets sold.

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1 hour ago, Specs said:

The US pretty much took the approach that everybody looks after themselves during he COVID crisis.  The folks there have gotten used to managing the risk individually on their own.  Here in Canada we kind of followed orders for the most part and let the governments manage the risk for us.  I have a feeling demand here won't pick up like in the US unless the government steps up and officially declares that everybody "should go forth and explore". 

Personally, I figure they should offer to drop all taxes on all flights for a few years just to spur demand or do something like they did in Australia and pay half the airfare on the first million tickets sold.

Yes, the Australian plan would help in Canada.

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3 hours ago, boestar said:

you want demand?  Drop the quarantine requirement and allow travel.  Demand will be lining up at the counter.

That is an impossible dream for anything except domestic travel unless the relaxation only applied to fully vaccinated travelers and/or other countries (destinations ) do the same

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On 3/16/2021 at 11:32 AM, Kargokings said:

That is an impossible dream for anything except domestic travel unless the relaxation only applied to fully vaccinated travelers and/or other countries (destinations ) do the same

my point was.... if the restrictions are dropped the demand will skyrocket in very short order.  People are chomping at the bit to travel virus be damned.

 

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