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WestJet’s 4,400 flight attendants, represented by CUPE Local 8125, voted 99.4% in favour of a strike mandate on July 15, 2026, with a 97.3% turnout. A legal strike could start as early as August 2, 2026, right in the middle of the Civic Holiday long weekend, but nothing is settled yet: the union says this vote is mainly a bargaining tool at the negotiating table.
A mandatory 21-day cooling-off period began on July 12, 2026. It protects everyone from an immediate work stoppage and wraps up around August 2, 2026. Once that period ends, both the union and WestJet must each give 72 hours’ notice before triggering a strike or lockout. In other words, even in the worst-case scenario, you won’t see a surprise walkout overnight.
The sticking points remain wages, pay for work done on the ground (boarding, security, delays), and what the union calls an outdated “flight pay” system. CUPE estimates the average flight attendant puts in about 35 hours of unpaid ground work per month. The comparison that keeps coming up in negotiations: Air Canada flight attendants secured, after their own strike in 2025, ground pay that ramps from 50% of the hourly rate in the first year of their contract up to 70% by the final year, a precedent that Local 8125 is using directly in its demands.
If you’re flying WestJet in the coming days, your flight isn’t threatened by a legal work stoppage: as of July 19, 2026, no strike notice has been filed, and a departure booked before July 29, for instance, falls entirely within the cooling-off period. The real risk window is August 2, 2026, and the days that follow, if both sides fail to reach a deal by then.
If a strike happens and WestJet cancels your flight, the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR) guarantee you two firm rights, regardless of the cause of the cancellation:
If your itinerary includes an international segment and the disruption is found to be attributable to the carrier, WestJet must also cover reasonable expenses caused by the delay: meals, ground transportation, accommodation, and communication costs. As we explain further below, a strike tied to collective bargaining is often classified as outside the carrier’s control, which can limit this coverage.
On the question of additional monetary compensation, beyond the refund and rebooking, the situation remains less clear-cut. Based on information available so far, a strike carried out under authorized collective bargaining is generally treated by the Canadian Transportation Agency as an event outside the carrier’s control, which usually exempts WestJet from paying monetary compensation for delays or cancellations, largely as was the case during the Air Canada flight attendants strike in 2025. This point continues to be contested and could evolve before August 2, 2026, so it’s worth watching. Note also that notice of less than 14 days before departure can, in some cases, work in favour of a claim, if the situation doesn’t fall under a recognized exception.
A good precedent to know: during the Air Canada flight attendants strike in 2025, the airline ended up voluntarily covering certain additional passenger expenses, beyond its strict legal obligations, to limit the damage to its reputation. Nothing guarantees WestJet would do the same, but the public’s appetite for this kind of goodwill gesture is something airlines watch closely during peak summer travel season.
Two Air Canada precedents can help you better understand your rights during a work stoppage at a Canadian airline: our article on the Air Canada flight attendant strike and the one on the Air Canada pilots strike, both covering compensation and travel insurance in detail. For a refresher on how the loyalty program works since its conversion to points, check out our article on WestJet Rewards: the program isn’t affected by this labour dispute.
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