WestJet did not breach collective agreement rights when it required former Sunwing pilots to take accrued vacation in blocks of fewer than five days to fill gaps in transition training, an Ontario labour arbitrator has ruled.

In Westjet, an Alberta Partnership v Air Line Pilots Association, Sunwing Master Executive Council, Arbitrator Eli Gedalof dismissed a grievance brought by the Air Line Pilots Association’s Sunwing Master Executive Council (MEC).

The case arose after Sunwing pilots transferring to WestJet were moved through mandatory ground school and simulator training, creating idle periods in which the company scheduled short blocks of accrued Sunwing vacation and restricted access to guaranteed days off (GDOs).

The dispute centred on a negotiated Pilot Transition Process (PTP), attached to a prior seniority integration award, which was designed to manage the movement of Sunwing pilots into WestJet’s operation. Under Article 3‑1.1 of the PTP, Sunwing pilots could be required to take their accrued Sunwing vacation between April and November 2025 or have it paid out. The question was whether, even in that window, the normal collective agreement rules requiring five‑day vacation blocks with attached GDOs still applied.

Parties’ positions on vacation rights

The MEC argued that pilots remained continuously covered by either the Sunwing or WestJet collective agreement and that the PTP merely gave the company more control over timing, not structure, of vacation use. Both...

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