A possible long-weekend strike at WestJet has been averted.
The federal government on Thursday directed the airline and plane mechanics into binding arbitration, steering clear of a work stoppage that threatened to disrupt flights for hundreds of thousands of travellers over the Canada Day long weekend.
In a late-afternoon social media post, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said he was invoking his authority under the Canada Labour Code to end the impasse between the two sides as the clock ticked down toward a Friday evening deadline.
“Strong first agreements set unions and employers on the path of collective bargaining,” O’Regan said in a statement.
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“They set a strong foundation to build upon at the bargaining table and bring the parties one step closer to a strong second agreement and an even stronger third agreement — reached at the bargaining table. That’s what we want to see here.”
WestJet and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association both said they will abide by the order, with strikes and lockouts off the table.
“With the government’s actions, the summer travel plans of Canadians have been protected and we have a path to resolution,” said WestJet Airlines president Diederik Pen. No more flight cancellations are planned, after more than a dozen on Thursday.
The union, which had opposed arbitration by the country’s labour tribunal, took a less upbeat tone.
“There is no modern precedent for the minister’s action,” the association’s negotiating committee said in a statement. But it added that it will tell its approximately 680 workers “to refrain from any unlawful job action.”
Union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative deal earlier this month and fought WestJet’s request for intervention by the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
In response to that request, the mechanics association served the company with an initial 72-hour strike notice on June 17, prompting WestJet to cancel nearly 50 flights last week before both sides agreed to resume negotiations.
The second strike notice came Tuesday amid tense negotiations over the collective agreement — the first between WestJet and the union.
The Calgary-based carrier had already begun to cancel flights this week, calling off roughly 25 trips on Thursday and Friday in anticipation of possible job action as early as 5:30 p.m. MDT on Friday. Affecting some 3,300 customers, WestJet’s decision to start concentrating its 180-plane fleet sought to avoid leaving aircraft in far-flung locations and stranding passengers and crew in the event of a work stoppage.
As negotiations around the contract dragged on in a windowless conference room at a hotel near Toronto’s Pearson airport, the tone of statements put out by the two sides grew chippier.
On Wednesday, the airline asked the tribunal to quash the latest strike notice and bar future ones — except on approval from the labour board. The affidavit from lawyer Simon Mortimer argued that the union was “moving backward” in the talks, pointing to one counter-offer from workers that called for “a 50 per cent cost increase” over the tentative agreement.
The union’s bargaining demands showed a failure to act in good faith and its public statements included “inflammatory” and “offensive” elements, the document claimed.
The union — the majority of its WestJet members are aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) who inspect each active plane daily — claimed the carrier was resorting to “false accusations” and “brinksmanship.”
In a statement, the mechanics’ negotiating committee retorted: “WestJet alleges that an AME strike would place the ‘company and the travelling public in peril at a critical time.’ It is difficult to conceive of a more inflammatory or offensive comment.”
Ian Evershed, a union representative involved in the talks, cited “some pretty intense moments” during the negotiations.
“We just aren’t seeing any progress,” he said in phone interview Wednesday.
Just over a year ago, the airline found itself in a similar situation after some 1,800 pilots threatened to walk off the job. WestJet averted a strike after reaching a last-minute deal in the wee hours ahead of a long weekend in May, but not before cancelling more than 230 flights and disrupting the travel plans of thousands of passengers.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board could opt not to suspend the right to a work stoppage as it hammers out a contract, but precedent and statements from the two parties suggests that outcome is a non-starter.
Both sides are slated to meet with the tribunal on Friday. “The board will then determine next steps or make the necessary rulings, as appropriate,” tribunal spokesman Jean-Daniel Tardif said in an email.
The mechanics are hoping for a raise well beyond WestJet’s initial offer of a roughly 10 per cent pay hike — it put forward a bigger one this week — in the first year of a five-and-a-half-year contract, Evershed said. He also pointed to counterparts in the United States who he said earn more than 1.5 times the current compensation level.
WestJet said it has offered a 12.5 per cent wage hike in the first year of the contract, and a compounded wage increase of 23 per cent over the rest of the term.
It also said the deal would protect work-life balance, ensure job security and attract more workers to the technical operations team.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2024.
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press Source link
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
