CUPE Local 8125 president Alia Hussain called the tentative WestJet deal "meaningful progress." The phrase is the union's assessment of a 28-hour strike that cancelled more than 600 flights. [1]

"This tentative agreement represents meaningful progress. It evolves the flight credit system by recognizing more of the work cabin crew are required to perform and with general increases to compensation for that work," Hussain said. [2]

That is the unpaid-ground-work fight in one sentence. The 4,400 attendants walked out over boarding, delays, and safety briefings that the credit-hour system treated as unpaid. WestJet had offered wage increases and called its package transformative. The union wanted the clock to start at check-in, not at pushback. [2]

The deal ends the stoppage and lockout notices. It still needs a ratification vote. Cirium counts cited after the Monday morning handshake showed hundreds of Monday flights still cancelled while aircraft were repositioned. [2]

The paper's business desk reads the quote as a systems claim, not a passenger one. Meaningful progress is a labor metric. The holiday weekend's stranded itineraries are a different ledger.

WestJet said the agreement goes to cabin crew for a vote. Until that ballot lands, "progress" is a joint statement, not a ratified contract, and the credit-hour rewrite exists only as language.

-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco