WestJet flight cancellations rose to more than 800 on Sunday afternoon, affecting the travel plans of nearly 100,000 passengers as the unexpected strike by aircraft mechanics entered its third day during the busiest travel weekend of the season.

424 flights were canceled on Sunday, with another 78 flights scheduled for cancellation on Canada Day and three more flights planned for Tuesday.

About 680 workers, whose daily inspections and repairs are essential to airline operations, walked off the job on Friday evening despite a binding arbitration direction from the federal labor minister.

As of Sunday morning, 77% of today's flights had been canceled, with WestJet leading the global list of cancellations among major airlines on both Saturday and Sunday.

The rush

Trevor Murray was one of thousands of customers who rushed to rebook after their flights were canceled less than a day earlier.

A resident of Lethbridge, Alta., who was stranded in a parking lot at Victoria airport trying to catch a flight to Calgary with his wife and their two-year-old son beside him in the car, said, "We just have to wait."

At 6:05 PM. the flight was canceled, and they didn't even know by evening whether the 7 AM flight the next day would go ahead.

Murray pointed to the airport and said, "There are a lot of angry people out there."

Social media

Other travelers turned to social media to express their frustrations, sometimes with colorful language.

One customer said the airline only informed them at 11:12 PM on Saturday that their flight the next day from Las Vegas had been canceled, describing the last-minute decision as "scumbag behavior."

Both WestJet and the Aircraft Mechanics Federation of America (AMFA) accused each other of refusing to negotiate in good faith.

WestJet Airlines CEO Diederik Pen emphasized what he called the union's "ongoing reckless actions" in making "brazen efforts" to disrupt Canadians' travel plans, while the union claimed the Calgary-based airline had refused to respond to its latest counter-proposals.

In a member update on Sunday, it said mechanics were the "victim of WestJet's nefarious public relations campaign that says you're breaking the law," citing "falsehoods" about workers' right to strike.

Other business flourishing

Not everyone was upset about the labor disruptions that occurred over the weekend.

Kim Bowe, a spokesperson for Flair Airlines, said: "We are seeing a massive increase in bookings, likely from passengers scrambling to salvage long weekend holidays."

The labor action follows union members overwhelmingly voting to reject an initial deal from WestJet in mid-June after two weeks of tense talks between the parties.

Mandate

As the strike deadline approached on Friday, the stalemate prompted Labor Minister Seamus O'Regan to intervene, directing the airline and the union to undergo binding arbitration led by the country's labor board.

This process typically avoids work stoppages, and WestJet surely thought so, stating that the union "confirmed it would comply with this direction."

The airline said on Thursday: "Given that, there will be no strike or lockout, and the airline will not continue cancelling flights anymore."

The mechanics had a different viewpoint. The union's bargaining committee stated it would "comply with the minister's order and direct its members to refrain from any unlawful work action." Less than 24 hours later, workers were on the picket lines.

The decision from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board appears to affirm the legitimacy of their actions regardless of arbitration protocols, which usually lead to avoiding a work stoppage rather than initiating one.

The court wrote on Friday: "The board sees that the ministerial referral does not suspend the right to strike or lockout."

O'Regan stated the next day that the board's decision "clearly contradicts" the direction he provided, but later added that he respects the body's independence and met with both sides on Saturday evening.

He stated in a social media post: "I told them they need to work with the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to resolve their disputes and reach their first agreement."

Nevertheless, O'Regan wields broad powers under Canadian labor law. While his initial direction to the binding arbitration court may have assumed that the strike was off the table due to precedent, the Labor Minister can take a range of steps "to secure industrial peace and foster favorable conditions for resolving industrial disputes."

"To achieve these ends, the minister may... direct the board to do the things the minister sees as necessary."

The union stated the two sides are set to meet on Sunday

Ian Evershed, a mechanic representative and union participant in the talks, said in a phone interview on Sunday: "It's uncharted territory. We're breaking new precedent here."

The union's goal remains to reach an agreement through bargaining rather than arbitration, a path it opposed from the beginning.

He noted: "This process may take months," emphasizing that the strike puts pressure on the employer. This stance conflicts with WestJet's statement that the labor action amounts to "pure revenge" as the deal will be settled through arbitration regardless.

Evershed said, "This was our only move," adding that a negotiated agreement could be reached afterward.

In a memo submitted to the court last week, WestJet's lawyers claimed the union sought an "unreasonable and extortive outcome" and deliberately maneuvered to schedule the strike at the height of summer travel.

The union contends that its wage demands would cost WestJet less than $8 million above what the airline offered for the first year of the collective agreement - the first contract between the two sides. It has acknowledged that the gains would exceed the compensation received by industry peers across Canada and align more closely with their American counterparts.

WestJet asserts it offered a 12.5 percent wage increase in the first year of the contract, along with a compounded wage increase of 23 percent over the remaining five and a half years.