WestJet Encore pilots vote for strike mandate, adding to airline's turbulence

WestJet Encore pilots could go on strike as soon as April 17 after they approved a strike mandate Tuesday, increasing the prospect of headwinds after a bumpy year for the airline's owner. Aviators at WestJet’s regional carrier voted 97% in favour of strike authorization after contract talks around pay, schedules and career progression came to a "near standstill," the Air Line Pilots Association said. Some 89% of pilots cast a ballot. “What that signals to me is that our pilots are frustrated," said Carin Kenny, who heads the union’s WestJet Encore contingent. The 355 pilots it represents can walk off the tarmac 72 hours after union leadership files a strike notice. The potential job action or lockout can only take place after a 21-day cooling-off period that started when federal conciliation between the two sides wrapped up last week. WestJet Encore employs the lowest-paid regional pilots in Canada, driving some to seek jobs elsewhere, Kenny said. The pilot shortage that she says persists at Encore makes the leap to WestJet's higher-wage mainline operation a rare feat, since flight crew for its roughly 35 De Havilland Dash 8-400 turboprop planes are needed at the regional service. “Right now, there’s nobody coming in, particularly into the captain ranks," Kenny said. "We're not replacing them, and the captains are generally the ones that have the seniority to move over to WestJet. It's sort of a revolving door of trying to fix that." Encore is recruiting newer pilots, she qualified. "But the problem is that they’re not staying. They're getting their experience and then they're going elsewhere — to Porter or Jazz or Air Canada or Flair. Some are going overseas.”<br/>