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WestJet pilots vote in favour of strike mandate, could walk before May long weekend

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The union representing WestJet pilots voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike mandate Tuesday, casting clouds of uncertainty over Canadians’ travel plans.

The Air Line Pilots Association said its 1,600 WestJet pilots can launch a strike as early as May 16 _ the Tuesday ahead of the May long weekend, which typically kicks off the summer travel season for thousands whose itineraries could now be upended.

The workers’ issues revolve around job protection, pay and scheduling at the airline and its discount subsidiary Swoop, said Bernard Lewall, who heads the union’s WestJet contingent.

“If you’re trying to attract new pilots or retain the experienced ones that we have, there’s got to be some definition of a career path for them. And because there’s three different airlines under the umbrella of WestJet flying the same airplanes, all with different wages and working conditions, there really isn’t that defined career path,” he said in a phone interview from Calgary.

“It is no longer a career destination.”

Some 240 pilots left the carrier last year, followed by about 100 so far this year, most of them to other airlines, he said.

Around 95 per cent of pilots took part in the strike vote, with 93 per cent of them in favour of the mandate.

Pilots could also opt for more restrained job action such as refusal to work overtime, Lewall noted.

WestJet chief operating officer Diederik Pen said in a statement that strike authorization is a “common step” by unions during labour negotiations and “does not mean a strike will occur.”

WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech told reporters last Wednesday that bookings were not being affected by the threat of a strike and that he expects to resolve the standoff.

“Recruitment is actually running pretty well,” he said in a phone interview from Calgary last Thursday, referring to pilots. “But what we are seeing is high attrition. That’s certainly an impact of the current situation.”

Resignations have been especially frequent at WestJet Encore, the carrier’s regional subsidiary, “which is actually pretty painful, although they’re not subject to the current bargaining,” von Hoensbroech said.

“Some of them are being actively recruited by some competitors.”

Von Hoensbroech, who has headed the Calgary-based airline since February 2022, said he expects to get through negotiations without any job action and with “meaningful improvements to their contract.”

Lewall is calling for a “North American-standard contract,” but von Hoensbroech suggested that asking for pay on par with U.S. counterparts is far-fetched.

“Pilots dream about U.S. wages. The union keeps on repeating that all they want is a standard North American contract,” the CEO said.

“But the U.S. is a totally different market on the aviation side,” he continued. “If you want the wages of another country, then you move to this other country and then live with everything it comes with.”

Talks are ongoing through the federal conciliation process, which will end April 24 followed by a three-week break, unless the parties agree to extend negotiations.

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Netflix’s subscriber growth slows as gains from password-sharing crackdown subside

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Netflix on Thursday reported that its subscriber growth slowed dramatically during the summer, a sign the huge gains from the video-streaming service’s crackdown on freeloading viewers is tapering off.

The 5.1 million subscribers that Netflix added during the July-September period represented a 42% decline from the total gained during the same time last year. Even so, the company’s revenue and profit rose at a faster pace than analysts had projected, according to FactSet Research.

Netflix ended September with 282.7 million worldwide subscribers — far more than any other streaming service.

The Los Gatos, California, company earned $2.36 billion, or $5.40 per share, a 41% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 15% from a year ago to $9.82 billion. Netflix management predicted the company’s revenue will rise at the same 15% year-over-year pace during the October-December period, slightly than better than analysts have been expecting.

The strong financial performance in the past quarter coupled with the upbeat forecast eclipsed any worries about slowing subscriber growth. Netflix’s stock price surged nearly 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out, building upon a more than 40% increase in the company’s shares so far this year.

The past quarter’s subscriber gains were the lowest posted in any three-month period since the beginning of last year. That drop-off indicates Netflix is shifting to a new phase after reaping the benefits from a ban on the once-rampant practice of sharing account passwords that enabled an estimated 100 million people watch its popular service without paying for it.

The crackdown, triggered by a rare loss of subscribers coming out of the pandemic in 2022, helped Netflix add 57 million subscribers from June 2022 through this June — an average of more than 7 million per quarter, while many of its industry rivals have been struggling as households curbed their discretionary spending.

Netflix’s gains also were propelled by a low-priced version of its service that included commercials for the first time in its history. The company still is only getting a small fraction of its revenue from the 2-year-old advertising push, but Netflix is intensifying its focus on that segment of its business to help boost its profits.

In a letter to shareholder, Netflix reiterated previous cautionary notes about its expansion into advertising, though the low-priced option including commercials has become its fastest growing segment.

“We have much more work to do improving our offering for advertisers, which will be a priority over the next few years,” Netflix management wrote in the letter.

As part of its evolution, Netflix has been increasingly supplementing its lineup of scripted TV series and movies with live programming, such as a Labor Day spectacle featuring renowned glutton Joey Chestnut setting a world record for gorging on hot dogs in a showdown with his longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi.

Netflix will be trying to attract more viewer during the current quarter with a Nov. 15 fight pitting former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson against Jake Paul, a YouTube sensation turned boxer, and two National Football League games on Christmas Day.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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All Magic Spells (TM) : Top Converting Magic Spell eCommerce Store

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CPC Practice Exam

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