240 WestJet flight attendants picket in Winnipeg By: Malak Abas Posted: 3:11 PM CDT Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026 Last Modified: 3:21 PM CDT Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026 Updates

Winnipeg’s WestJet flight attendants took to the picket line outside of Richardson International Airport on the first day of nationwide strikes Sunday, while inside, frustrated flyers scrambled to re-route cancelled long-weekend flights.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Ontario arm and the airline announced the strike would commence after the strike deadline was passed without a deal early Sunday morning. WestJet attendants have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2025.

Hours later, the 240 WestJet flight attendants based in Winnipeg had walked off the job and were marching outside of the airport terminal, some carrying signs with slogans including “Tired with WestJet? So are We!” and “Unpaid Work Won’t Fly.”

Key issues causing the stalemate are wages and pay for work on the ground: the union says flight attendants are not being paid for some of that work, while the company says they pay for the work through a “credit hour” system rather than an hourly rate.

CUPE Manitoba president Gina McKay called unpaid work “a huge part of (attendants’) duties” while on the picket line Sunday morning. She was regularly drowned out by honks from drivers and cheers of support from people entering the airport, which she noted as a sign of solidarity from other workers.

“There’s no job in this country that should be unpaid when you’re putting in hours,” McKay said.

“So our message to workers is just to say, we’re here in solidarity.”

WestJet cancelled 300 flights across the country Sunday morning.

Inside the airport Sunday morning, WestJet’s check-in lines were bare, but long lines built up around check-in at other airlines; some of those waiting were travellers struggling to book new flights to make their long-weekend vacation plans or get back home.

Several told the Free Press they had come to the airport for help finding a flight after calling WestJet and waiting on hold for hours, only to be asked to book online or try the phone line again.

Peter and Lisa Hebert came to the airport to try to book a new flight home to New Brunswick after theirs was cancelled. They were given a list of flight numbers by a staff member and were asked to try booking online.

“We tried (calling WestJet) yesterday, and we couldn’t get through, nothing,” Peter said. “And they said that they help you try to connect the flight, get flights and that, but they’re not helping us.”

Sydney Handel and her husband had been planning their trip to Anchorage, Alaska for nearly a year. Their flight was cancelled, and WestJet re-booked them on a series of flights to take them from Winnipeg to Saskatoon, then to Minneapolis, and then to Anchorage. Then, their flight in Saskatoon was suddenly cancelled, and the pair chose to stay home rather than risk getting stranded in Saskatchewan.

“It sounds like the people (WestJet) have on staff haven’t been working for a very long time, so they’re as confused as we are,” Handel said.

“We’ve gotten lots of texts, lots of emails about re-booking and rescheduling, and everything seems to fall through right now.”

Even with her own frustrations, she said she sympathizes with the picketing workers.

“Human to human, I get it. You’re not being paid what you think you’re worthy of being paid, I understand,” she said. “Selfishly, I want to go on our trip that we’ve been planning for almost a year, but I can’t blame them.”

It’s Mohammad Saleem’s first time visiting Winnipeg. He came with more than two dozen people from Houston, Texas, to attend a wedding last weekend. On Sunday, he showed up at the airport to confirm his re-routed flight after attempts to call WestJet’s phone line resulted in hours of waiting.

“We had a very great time until we found out that our flight got cancelled because of (the) strike, and we’re stuck here,” he said.

They were able to book a flight for Tuesday and an extended stay at their hotel, but there’s no guarantee the flight won’t be cancelled if the strike persists. Saleem, who works for American Express, said WestJet should be thinking of its customers first in this situation.

“Whenever my customers call, and if they have a problem, our first step is to help the customers,” he said. “So (whenever) they have (a) problem, they need to look for the customer, that’s more important.”

There are 4,400 WestJet flight attendants currently on strike across Canada. The airline, which operates more than 600 flights a day, has said 250,000 people could have their flights cancelled.

In a statement Sunday morning, WestJet said any flyers impacted by the strike would be refunded or re-accommodated.

“We’re disappointed to be here, this directly impacts the travel plans of our guests, our WestJetters and the communities and businesses we serve,” said Alexis von Hoensbroech, the chief executive officer of the WestJet Group.

Last August, 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants went on strike, seeking wage increases and improvements in ground pay. Ottawa intervened less than 12 hours later, invoking Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code and ordering workers back on the job.

The union defied that order, and a tentative deal was reached four days later.

University of Manitoba labour studies professor Julia Smith expects to see other airlines follow suit, as flight attendants have flagged this as an industry-wide issue.

“We can expect to continue to see this because flight attendants have basically said that the status quo isn’t working, and this is an issue that they are willing to go to the picket line for,” she said. “That strike mandate they got, 99.4 per cent, that’s so high.”

But she cautioned against “normalizing” the federal government stepping in on strike action.

“What that essentially communicates is that the federal government is willing to just say, ‘Today we want to respect charter rights, and tomorrow we won’t,’ and that should be of concern to everybody, whether you’re in a union or not,” she said.

— with files from the Canadian Press

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca