An arbitrator has dismissed a union grievance against WestJet, finding the airline was entitled to assign former Sunwing pilots vacation blocks of fewer than five days to fill scheduling gaps during their transition training — a decision with direct implications for employers managing workforce integrations.
The February 2026 ruling addresses a dispute that arose from the merger of WestJet and Sunwing Airlines, during which hundreds of Sunwing pilots were required to complete mandatory ground school and simulator training before flying for WestJet. Gaps between those training activities sometimes lasted fewer than five days, and WestJet assigned accrued Sunwing vacation to cover those intervals rather than pay pilots to sit idle.
The Air Line Pilots Association’s Sunwing Master Executive Council argued the practice violated both collective agreements, which required vacation to be taken in consecutive five-day blocks with Guaranteed Days Off attached. WestJet countered that a negotiated Pilot Transition Process (PTP), part of the merger’s seniority integration agreement, gave it authority to assign vacation differently during the transition period.
The arbitrator sided with WestJet — within limits.
What the transition agreement said
At the heart of the dispute was a section of the PTP titled “Integration Vacation.” Two provisions were key.
Article 3-1.1 allowed WestJet to require former Sunwing pilots to take their accrued vacation between April and November 2025, regardless of whether they had formally transferred. Article 3-1.2 went further, stating that “eligible vacation periods may be limited by training dates and operational requirements and pilots may be required to use vacation following transfer and while in line for training.”
The union argued those provisions controlled the timing of vacation but left the five-day block requirement intact. WestJet argued the PTP created a separate category of “Integration Vacation” that operated outside the normal rules.
The arbitrator’s finding
The arbitrator found that Article 3-1.2 applied to both accrued Sunwing vacation and prorated WestJet vacation — not just the latter, as the union argued.
The reasoning turned on the word “vacation” in the final sentence of Article 3-1.2. Elsewhere in the PTP, the parties used specific language when they meant to refer only to accrued Sunwing vacation or only to prorated WestJet vacation. The final sentence used neither qualifier. That distinction, the arbitrator found, was meaningful.
Applying the principle that specific provisions prevail over general ones, the arbitrator determined Article 3-1.2 was designed to carve out an exception to the standard collective agreement rules.
“On the face of this provision, it permitted the employer to assign employees vacation for a period defined by the length of time they were in line for training,” the arbitrator wrote. “Where that gap is less than five days, the assignment certainly conflicts with the terms of the collective agreements. But as a specific provision, intended to provide an exception to the otherwise applicable provisions of the collective agreement, I find its terms must prevail within the defined scope of its application.”
The arbitrator acknowledged the union’s argument that clear language is required to override collectively bargained rights — but found that standard was met here.
“The provision is intended to provide the company with flexibility and cost containment during the transition period, by allowing it to unilaterally assign Sunwing pilots vacation to fill gaps in training,” the arbitrator wrote.
The limits of the ruling
The decision is narrow. The arbitrator found the evidence showed accrued Sunwing vacation was assigned in sub-five-day blocks only to bridge training gaps — not for any other purpose. The ruling dismissed the grievance on that basis and did not address what remedy might apply if vacation had been assigned differently.
Approximately 70 former Sunwing pilots had been affected by the practice at the time of the hearing, with more expected as additional pilots completed their transfers.
The ruling also confirmed that GDOs — unpaid days off attached to vacation blocks under both collective agreements — could not be claimed in circumstances where the vacation blocks themselves were shorter than five days, since GDOs attached to five-day blocks that were never awarded.
Why it matters for HR
For HR leaders managing mergers or workforce integrations, the ruling illustrates how carefully drafted transition agreements can give employers meaningful flexibility to manage scheduling and costs — but only where the language directly supports it. The arbitrator was clear that the collective agreement rights remained in force throughout the transition; it was the specificity of the PTP language that created the exception, not the existence of the transition process itself.
For more information, see Westjet, an Alberta Partnership v Air Line Pilots Association, Sunwing Master Executive Council, 2026 CanLII 10289 (ON LA).
