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Aug 2 (Reuters) – Flight attendants at Canada’s WestJet went on strike on Sunday after failing to reach a deal with the country’s second-largest carrier, grounding flights during the busy summer travel season.
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The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 4,400 flight attendants at the carrier, majority-owned by Onex Corp, gave 72 hours’ notice on Thursday signaling that a strike could come if talks failed to produce an agreement.
The union did not provide details in a Facebook post on Sunday announcing the strike. CUPE and the airline did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment outside business hours.
The union is asking for its members to be paid from the time they check in to when they clock out, which is not currently the case.
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WestJet had canceled 309 flights through Sunday night in anticipation of the strike. It did so to “minimize the risk of stranding guests and aircraft,” the company said on its website before the strike was announced.
The strike highlights broader efforts by flight attendants in Canada and the U.S. to challenge a compensation structure that mostly pays cabin crew when an aircraft is in motion.
(Reporting by Sumedha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Joe Bavier and William Mallard)
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