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“The pilots of the WestJet Group of Firms, we’re a few of the lowest paid in North America, if not the world,” WestJet’s union spokesman Bernard Lewall mentioned in an interview final month.
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It was statements like Lewall’s that garnered an eye fixed roll from many Canadians who watched WestJet’s labour negotiations unfold over the previous few weeks.
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Certainly, it was exhausting to really feel sympathy for WestJet’s supposedly underpaid pilots when information broke that the collective settlement they have been ready to cross on included salaries as excessive as $350,000 per 12 months for some captains.
To be truthful, not all pilots earn that a lot. In 2022, wages for WestJet pilots began at $64.92 per hour for a newly employed first officer. Flying an affordable 1,000 hours per 12 months would have yielded solely $64,920.
However on common, a mid-career WestJet pilot will earn a number of occasions that of most Canadians, whose imply revenue was about $60,000 final 12 months. And that doesn’t think about additional time, profit-sharing and different advantages WestJet presents.
Nonetheless, WestJet’s pilots wished extra, much more.
When a deal was lastly reached between WestJet’s administration and the Air Line Pilots Affiliation (ALPA), which represented some 1,800 WestJet and Swoop pilots within the negotiations, it was clear the pilots had secured a considerable pay increase. The deal features a 24 per cent hike over 4 years, and an estimated $400 million in complete extra compensation.
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Pilots are now not the little man we sometimes affiliate with labour negotiations. Within the phrases of 1 columnist forward of the potential strike, “your journey plans may very well be thrown into chaos this weekend as a result of WestJet pilots suppose incomes greater than $300,000 per 12 months is like residing in poverty.”
They could not deserve our sympathy, however the pilots deserved each penny they bargained for. And this deal might be good for the nation in the long term.
This deal was about paying pilots what the market — which has modified dramatically post-pandemic — will bear. It was about retaining Canadian pilots so that they don’t go away for considerably larger salaries south of the border. In that sense, this deal was unavoidable.
The pandemic has left in its wake a world scarcity of pilots, in keeping with consulting agency Oliver Wyman. To maintain them, airways have been compelled to loosen their purse strings. One determine that was thrown round within the WestJet negotiations was 34 per cent. That was the dimensions of the increase that pilots at U.S.-based Delta Air Strains secured within the collective settlement they negotiated earlier this 12 months — a pay soar that American Airways’ CEO vowed to match.
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That’s what Canadian airways must cope with. Based on ALPA, WestJet loses one pilot each 18 hours to a better paying job with considered one of its opponents, typically south of the border.
Think about, for instance, that you just’re a pilot with Air Canada, the place your wage has elevated a mere two per cent per 12 months since 2014. Would you stick round figuring out that you possibly can, in some circumstances, almost double your wage by taking a job within the U.S.? Most likely not. Therefore, pilots at Air Canada are poised to obtain a pay soar of their very own once they negotiate their collective settlement with ALPA later this summer season.
Common Canadians will really feel the results of upper wages for pilots within the quick run. Some have argued that WestJet might lower companies on much less worthwhile routes, now that wages account for a a lot bigger portion of every flight’s value.
To compensate, airways might increase ticket costs. As many Canadians know, the worth for air journey has already risen markedly post-pandemic. The worth of airfare in Canada jumped a whopping 46.5 per cent from January 2022 to its highest level in August final 12 months.
So sure, as passengers, it’s truthful to really feel unsympathetic towards our not-so-underpaid pilots — particularly in case your journey plans have been disrupted by their negotiations. However know that from an financial standpoint, this deal needed to occur. It ensures that Canadian pilots proceed to serve Canadian passengers for a decade to return.
Jonah Prousky is a administration marketing consultant and freelance author primarily based in Toronto.
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