WestJet has many FCM’s date of hire logged incorrectly. This seems to be related to those of us that were hired seasonally prior to permanently, but with no break in employment. We strongly advise you to take a picture of your Sunwing ID, your DayForce DOH, and your E-Crew days worked, so that if this becomes a larger issue, we have documentation. You can access your days worked and your pay anniversary in eCrew under Reports, Crew Allowance Report, and then by selecting the previous one-year period from today’s date. Here you will be able to see your Captain and FO active days, CA and FO anniversary dates, and your days of service on CA and FO anniversary dates. Please print yourself a PDF copy of this prior to your WestJet Report Date.

Related to this issue is the question of Length of Service Pay for Sunwing Captains at WestJet (CA2 21-4). The Sunwing pilots that transferred to WestJet in March have now received their first WestJet pay. Captains not at Sunwing year 12 pay scale, were paid at their current Sunwing pay step, and not in accordance with WestJet’s CA2 Article 21-4, where length of service at the company is what counts, not length of time in the captain position like at Sunwing. A grievance is being worked on for this issue. This will be handled by the WestJet MEC and will take time to get to arbitration. We have spoken with the WestJet MEC at length about this issue and would like to reassure our members that the WJA MEC is passionate about defending their CA and ensuring our pilots are paid correctly and a B scale isn't allowed to be established. Please continue to be patient. If you are paid incorrectly as a Captain when you get to WestJet, please make sure to file a DART there.

Recently, Unifor (on behalf of the Sunwing pilots), filed a ULP against WestJet. The ULP alleges that WestJet acted inappropriately by agreeing to pay for all of the WJA MEC’s costs related to the merger/integration while insisting publicly that all costs were to be paid by each party independently. In its reply to the ULP, the Company acknowledged that such an agreement existed. The WJA MEC also recently announced that the entire special assessment amount will be refunded to their pilot group.

The ULP also raised the issue of WestJet unfairly preventing our training pilots from keeping their training positions. WestJet has filed a formal response, and we have submitted our reply to theirs. We expect to hear more from the CIRB in the coming weeks. We have received verbal confirmation that the Board is taking this seriously and will likely be scheduling an in-person mediation to resolve the situation.

The winding down of our flights was the major topic at our Sunwing MEC / Management last week. Sadly, due to commercial flexibility in scheduling, Sunwing’s Flight Ops were not able to get confirmation about the list of flights across our network that would be operated as ‘final flights'. It seems that Sunwing Airlines will close with a quiet whimper and not the glorious celebration that is deserved. The last Sunwing Flight is planned to operate from Montreal on May 28^th. The last flight from Toronto will be May 25^th. Final flights will be offered to senior crew outside of the regular bidding process. This is the least we can do for those that worked their career at this great airline. The tentative final flights at each base are as follows:

YYC – closed

YVR - March 30

YWG - April 14

YEG - Apr 25

YQB - May 25

YYZ - May 25

YUL - May 28

The first few pilots that have transitioned to WestJet are now completing their PPCs. For the most part, the feedback we are hearing is good. It is evident that WestJet's Flight Ops and Training teams have made an effort to have our pilots feel welcome, acknowledge the realities that a merger brings, and set Sunwing pilots up for a successful transition to WestJet. They have also appeared quite open to feedback about both the integration course as well as their policies and procedures, which is welcome news.

About 3 weeks prior to a pilot’s report date, they will receive log-in details for their WestJet email and the various WestJet corporate sites. We encourage our pilots to set up their WestJet email in a timely fashion as that inbox fills up quickly. Pilots will also be assigned 15 hours of online training modules that are accessed through WestNet (Sharepoint). These modules must be completed prior to a pilot's PPC date. Time is given during ground school to complete the modules.

In terms of ground school, it is broken into two blocks of three days. The first three days are done as a large group of approximately 70 pilots and includes a welcome to WestJet and a campus tour, talks from their leadership team, how to fill out a logbook, elementary maintenance and MELs, life raft training, cabin crew emergency drills, switching over EFBs and a tutorial on new apps and talks from Crew Scheduling and Crew Planning on scheduling and bidding.

During the next block of 3 days, the group is broken down into smaller groups of around 20 pilots. These days will be assigned onto a pilot’s schedule and may be more than a week after the initial portion. These days are operational specific and are structured so that the class moves through a flight from report at the gate to parking back at the gate and securing the aircraft. SOPs and company policy and procedures are discussed in detail for each phase of flight with plenty of opportunity for questions and conversation.

After ground school, pilots will be assigned a partner and will go through a day of procedures training. Following this, the pair moves on to fixed base sim. Both of these days are structured as a normal flight from beginning to end to practice flows, checklists and SOPs. This is followed by 3 days of full flight simulator where emergency procedures and more complicated maneuvers are introduced. If the pair successfully completes these 3 days of sim, they are then split apart and partner with a WestJet line pilot to complete the regular two-day pre-PPC/PPC WestJet recurrent training program and then are released onto line indoc.

The SOP’s are a sharp contrast to Boeing's current philosophy on how to operate their aircraft- those who flew 727’s and 737-200’s will feel the deja vu. But on a brighter note, the training is well planned, and it seems WestJet is trying hard to ensure we feel welcomed and supported during this difficult time. That is appreciated.

On the topic of appreciation, we would like to say best wishes to Len Corrado who has announced his retirement. Len took over at a difficult time and we can only imagine how he dealt with the competing interests and various parties. From our part, we can say that Len cared. We believe he tried to do what is best for his employees with the little autonomy allowed of him. We wish Len the best of luck as he punches out and are pleased that he will be participating in the final flight ceremonies in May.