May 16, 2025

Dear Porter Pilots,

Eight years ago this week--on May 12, 2017--I along with 1,400 other WestJet pilots, voted to join ALPA.

We recognized, like many of you have now, that joining ALPA would be immensely beneficial for our pilot group. We also recognized that our representation model at the time, which was not certified as a bargaining unit by the CIRB, had its limits for us as a pilot group.

Within six months of joining ALPA we began negotiations for our first-ever collective agreement. The resources and support the Association provided us in those negotiations proved invaluable.

ALPA’s professional staff helped us prepare to open negotiations, worked beside us and provided their expertise as we bargained with the company, as well as  supporting informational pickets. This process was not easy, especially since we were the first employee group to unionize at WestJet, but with ALPA support, including a $2 million grant in aid from the Association’s "war chest" to back our efforts, we continued to move forward.

It was during those negotiations for a first collective agreement that we saw WestJet create Swoop; but it was through assistance from ALPA as well as our certification as a bargaining unit by the CIRB that we were able to ensure that pilots at both WestJet and Swoop were one pilot group under the same collective agreement.

In June 2023 we secured our second collective agreement under ALPA representation and we continue looking ahead to the enhancements we will seek during contract negotiations for our third collective agreement. With the immense support from ALPA National resources and the other ALPA MECs, we were able to secure a Canadian leading contract which then set the standard for other properties in Canada.

Beyond negotiations, ALPA has proven to be valuable from the start, and we continue to benefit from belonging to the Association. Just recently, we worked hand in hand with ALPA Canada to push back on WestJet management’s attempts to use the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program.

While management cited an inability to attract Canadian pilots to the airline as the need for using the program, ALPA reiterated that the true issue was a management team that failed to address the very real issue of career progression and job security for pilots within the company. There are, we maintained, more practical solutions to attracting and retaining skilled professional pilots that do not involve utilizing a federal program that was never intended for this purpose.

With the collective might of ALPA behind us, WestJet Airlines decided in April that they would no longer pursue the hiring of any pilots through the TFW Program.

And while that’s good news in and of itself, ALPA isn’t stopping there. The Association continues to lobby on Parliament Hill to update the program, both so that its use is limited to its original intent, and also to recognize and place importance on consulting with any unions that represent impacted employees.

WestJet has grown and evolved over the past eight years and so has ALPA. We joined ALPA with 1,400 pilots and with the addition of Sunwing, we will have approximately 2,300 pilots. At the same time ALPA the Association has also grown from 55,000 pilots at 32 U.S. and Canadian airlines to the current membership of over 79,000 members and 42 airlines.

We are stronger together, and I believe that Porter pilots will benefit by joining ALPA, allowing the Association to stand with you and work beside you as Porter continues to grow.

Thank you to all of you who have already filled out a representation card. For those who have not, I encourage you to add your card and join the Air Line Pilots Association.

 

Visit the Porter OC website to download a card, then fill it out and either hand it to a member of the Porter OC or mail it to ALPA (please no coins); get more information on how to submit your card here.

 

In Unity,

 

Capt. Bernie Lewall
ALPA WestJet MEC Chair