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Thousands of travelers scrambling after WestJet mechanics’ strike prompts flight cancelations

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Striking aircraft mechanics are seen on the picket line at Pearson International Airport, in Toronto, Saturday, June 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher KatsarovChristopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press

Thousands of air travelers across the country had their Canada Day long weekend plans disrupted Saturday after WestJet Airlines cancelled more than 350 flights in the wake of unexpected strike action by its unionized mechanics.

WestJet said more than 30,000 passengers were affected by the flight disruptions Saturday, and an additional 250,000 travelers might be impacted if the strike continues through the long weekend.

Hundreds of WestJet mechanics walked off the job Friday evening following a strike notice issued by their union, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA).

On Saturday, travelers were hovering around the WestJet booth in Terminal 3 of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport anxiously waiting to find out if their flights had been cancelled.

Villamor Torres and Mary Jane Herrera came to the airport after struggling to rebook their cancelled flight over the phone. The Toronto couple was looking forward to starting their vacation in the Cayman Islands on Saturday when they received an email at 9:40 a.m. notifying them that their flight was cancelled.

“We’re trying to figure out what to do—we’re in the middle of getting a new flight but they said if we get a new flight they won’t compensate us,” said Ms. Herrera.

At the airport, they were met with more confusion. “They say they’ll get us a new flight but when we ask which one they’re not responding,” said Mr. Torres.

“It’s chaos,” said Amy Morris, who was visiting the country for the first time from Atlanta, Ga., with her family. “We had a hiking trip planned tomorrow in Banff, we lose the entire first day at least…it’s not a great introduction to Canada.”

The family of four were headed to Calgary when they learned of the cancellation while on a connecting flight to Toronto. “We’re getting no information from WestJet at all — they said within a couple of hours we’ll get a reassignment, but we’ve heard nothing,” said Ms. Morris. “It was a last family vacation, the kids are moving out of state, and it was supposed to be our last hurrah.”

Some travelers arriving at Pearson were pleasantly surprised that their WestJet flights had not been cancelled.

“We had no problems with our flight so far,” said Dave Johnson, the President of the Bowling Association of Ontario who was headed to Winnipeg for a national championship with 40 other players. “They’ve checked our bags already… I was thinking they’d have picket lines and be blocking the doors.”

Sean McVeigh, a WestJet aircraft maintenance engineer picketing at Pearson’s Terminal 3 on Saturday, said the strike is an attempt to force the airline to return to a “respectful negotiation.”

McVeigh said the union regrets any inconvenience caused to passengers.

“However, the reason they [passengers] have possibly missed a flight or had to cancel is due to the reason that WestJet is not respectfully sitting down at the table and negotiating,” he said alongside roughly 20 others on the picket line. “We take on a lot of responsibility and we would just like to be appreciated financially,” he said.

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Passengers are seen in the WestJet check-in area at Pearson International Airport, in Toronto, Saturday, June 29, 2024.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press

WestJet said another 150 flights could be cancelled by the end of the day Saturday if there was no resolution to the walkout.

“We are extremely outraged at these actions and will hold AMFA 100 per cent accountable for the unnecessary stress and costs incurred as a result,” said WestJet Airlines president Diederik Pen in a statement.

The union said WestJet’s “unwillingness” to negotiate made the strike inevitable, and accused the airline of insinuating retaliatory action against union members.

The country’s second-largest airline pleaded for immediate intervention by the federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan and Canada Industrial Relations Board.

On Saturday, Mr. O’Regan said he was reviewing a decision made by the industrial relations board to refer a dispute between WestJet and the AMFA for binding arbitration — a process where a third party deliberates on the terms of a collective agreement.

“I will be taking additional steps to protect the interests of the employer, the union and all Canadians traveling over this national holiday weekend,” Mr. O’Regan said in a statement posted on X.

But a new statement later in the day said he respects the authority of the board, which he noted is independent from the government.

“I told them [WestJet and AMFA] they needed to work together with the Canada Industrial Relations Board to resolve their differences and get their first agreement done,” O’Regan said after the meeting on Saturday evening.

The airline’s CEO, Alexis von Hoensbroech, blamed the situation on what he said was a “rogue union from the U.S.” that was trying to make inroads in Canada.

Von Hoensbroech said as far as the airline was concerned bargaining with the union had come to an end once the minister directed the dispute to binding arbitration.

“This makes a strike totally absurd because the reason you actually do a strike is because you need to exercise pressure on the bargaining table,” he said. “If there is no bargaining table it makes no sense, there shouldn’t be a strike.”

He added the union had rejected a contract offer that would have made the airline’s mechanics the “best paid in the country.”

Whatever the outcome of the contract dispute, Gábor Lukács, a Canadian air passenger rights advocate says WestJet has a legal obligation to provide passengers with cancelled flights a reasonable and speedy alternative.

“Under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations they need to reschedule you on another airline or buy a ticket from a competitor,” he said, adding that this should be done within the first few hours after a cancelled flight. “If WestJet is not reachable for several hours they are not fulfilling their obligation.”

Passengers who can’t reach the airline or aren’t offered a clear alternative travel plan should proceed to book a flight at their own expense and send WestJet the bill, Lukacs recommended. Most importantly — ”they should document every message and exchange with the airline.”

With reports from The Canadian Press.

 

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Telus prioritizing ‘most important customers,’ avoiding ‘unprofitable’ offers: CFO

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Telus Corp. says it is avoiding offering “unprofitable” discounts as fierce competition in the Canadian telecommunications sector shows no sign of slowing down.

The company said Friday it had fewer net new customers during its third quarter compared with the same time last year, as it copes with increasingly “aggressive marketing and promotional pricing” that is prompting more customers to switch providers.

Telus said it added 347,000 net new customers, down around 14.5 per cent compared with last year. The figure includes 130,000 mobile phone subscribers and 34,000 internet customers, down 30,000 and 3,000, respectively, year-over-year.

The company reported its mobile phone churn rate — a metric measuring subscribers who cancelled their services — was 1.09 per cent in the third quarter, up from 1.03 per cent in the third quarter of 2023. That included a postpaid mobile phone churn rate of 0.90 per cent in its latest quarter.

Telus said its focus is on customer retention through its “industry-leading service and network quality, along with successful promotions and bundled offerings.”

“The customers we have are the most important customers we can get,” said chief financial officer Doug French in an interview.

“We’ve, again, just continued to focus on what matters most to our customers, from a product and customer service perspective, while not loading unprofitable customers.”

Meanwhile, Telus reported its net income attributable to common shares more than doubled during its third quarter.

The telecommunications company said it earned $280 million, up 105.9 per cent from the same three-month period in 2023. Earnings per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was 19 cents compared with nine cents a year earlier.

It reported adjusted net income was $413 million, up 10.7 per cent year-over-year from $373 million in the same quarter last year. Operating revenue and other income for the quarter was $5.1 billion, up 1.8 per cent from the previous year.

Mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.85 in the third quarter, a decrease of $2.09 or 3.4 per cent from a year ago. Telus said the drop was attributable to customers signing up for base rate plans with lower prices, along with a decline in overage and roaming revenues.

It said customers are increasingly adopting unlimited data and Canada-U.S. plans which provide higher and more stable ARPU on a monthly basis.

“In a tough operating environment and relative to peers, we view Q3 results that were in line to slightly better than forecast as the best of the bunch,” said RBC analyst Drew McReynolds in a note.

Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi added that “the telecom industry in Canada remains very challenging for all players, however, Telus has been able to face these pressures” and still deliver growth.

The Big 3 telecom providers — which also include Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. — have frequently stressed that the market has grown more competitive in recent years, especially after the closing of Quebecor Inc.’s purchase of Freedom Mobile in April 2023.

Hailed as a fourth national carrier, Quebecor has invested in enhancements to Freedom’s network while offering more affordable plans as part of a set of commitments it was mandated by Ottawa to agree to.

The cost of telephone services in September was down eight per cent compared with a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent inflation report last month.

“I think competition has been and continues to be, I’d say, quite intense in Canada, and we’ve obviously had to just manage our business the way we see fit,” said French.

Asked how long that environment could last, he said that’s out of Telus’ hands.

“What I can control, though, is how we go to market and how we lead with our products,” he said.

“I think the conditions within the market will have to adjust accordingly over time. We’ve continued to focus on digitization, continued to bring our cost structure down to compete, irrespective of the price and the current market conditions.”

Still, Canada’s telecom regulator continues to warn providers about customers facing more charges on their cellphone and internet bills.

On Tuesday, CRTC vice-president of consumer, analytics and strategy Scott Hutton called on providers to ensure they clearly inform their customers of charges such as early cancellation fees.

That followed statements from the regulator in recent weeks cautioning against rising international roaming fees and “surprise” price increases being found on their bills.

Hutton said the CRTC plans to launch public consultations in the coming weeks that will focus “on ensuring that information is clear and consistent, making it easier to compare offers and switch services or providers.”

“The CRTC is concerned with recent trends, which suggest that Canadians may not be benefiting from the full protections of our codes,” he said.

“We will continue to monitor developments and will take further action if our codes are not being followed.”

French said any initiative to boost transparency is a step in the right direction.

“I can’t say we are perfect across the board, but what I can say is we are absolutely taking it under consideration and trying to be the best at communicating with our customers,” he said.

“I think everyone looking in the mirror would say there’s room for improvement.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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TC Energy cuts cost estimate for Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico

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CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.

It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.

The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.

TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRP)

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BCE reports Q3 loss on asset impairment charge, cuts revenue guidance

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BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.

The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.

“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”

Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.

BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.

The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.

BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.

It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.

The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”

Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

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