Last week, Unifor published an update on their website regarding contract negotiations for worker employed by WestJet.
Through its Local 531, the union represents over 1,800 airport workers at Canada’s 3 largest airports: Toronto Pearson International Airport, Calgary International Airport, and Vancouver International Airport.
These workers include customer service agents, baggage service agents, priority service agents, guest service leads, irregular operations coordinators, daily duty coordinators, workforce coordinators, ramp service agents, ramp service leads, and ramp service coordinators.
Their most recent collective agreement is set to expire at the end of the year. It is their first collective agreement and was ratified in July 2022 after a long process that began in October 2021 and included conciliation.
Originally, the first collective agreement applied to just Calgary and Vancouver airport workers with WestJet. Toronto workers joined the bargaining agreement in June 2023, and ramp workers came on board in March 2025.
According to last week’s update, workers are focusing on improving wages, scheduling, and working conditions, particularly such safety issues as the prevalence of agents working alone.
In their last agreement, workers got a 3% across-the-board wage increase in their first year, followed by a 2% increase in each of the following 3 years, with the last one coming into effect this past January.
During that same period, the consumer price index in Canada increased 19.7 points, from 145.3 in January 2022 and 165.0 in January 2026. That is a jump of 13.56%.
Because these workers received a combined in crease of 9% during a period where inflation increased by 13.56%, they have received a cut to real wages of 4.56%.
If WestJet wants to show that they should respect these workers, they should give them at least 4.56% in their first year to make up for these lost wages, plus an additional amount to cover inflation between January 2026 and January 2027.
The starting wage for workers by the end of the current contract will be $17.88 an hour for customer service workers and $22.92 and hour for operations workers.
In comparison, the living wage is $26.50 an hour in Calgary, $27.20 in Toronto, and $27.85 in Vancouver.
Bargaining began last Monday (14th), and the workers’ bargaining team also met with the employer on Tuesday (15th). Their next dates are scheduled for 3 days this week, starting with Wednesday (23rd).
Unifor is Canada’s largest private sector union, representing 320,000 workers in every major area of the economy, including 16,000 members in aviation and 26,000 members working in telecommunications.
They are trying to unionize workers at WestJet’s Contact Centre in Calgary. These workers participated in a certification vote last Monday (14th), but results were unavailable at press time.
