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Canada\u2019s second largest airline,\u00a0WestJet<\/a>, said it canceled 407 flights affecting 49,000 passengers after the maintenance workers union announced it went on strike<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association said its members\u00a0started to strike Friday evening<\/a>\u00a0because the airline\u2019s \u201cunwillingness to negotiate with the union\u201d made it inevitable.<\/p>\n The surprise strike affecting international and domestic flights came after the federal government issued a ministerial order for binding arbitration on Thursday. That followed two weeks of turbulent discussions with the union on a new deal.<\/p>\n WestJet<\/a> said it will continue to park aircraft through Sunday for the long weekend culminating in Canada Day on Monday. The airline has about 200 aircraft and says they\u2019ll operate approximately 30 by Sunday evening.<\/p>\n The airline\u2019s CEO, Alexis von Hoensbroech, put the blame for the situation squarely on what he said was a \u201crogue union from the U.S.\u201d that was trying to make inroads in Canada.<\/p>\n Von Hoensbroech said that, as far as the airline was concerned, bargaining with the union had come to an end once the government directed the dispute to binding arbitration.<\/p>\n \u201cThis makes a strike totally absurd because the reason you actually do a strike is because you need to exercise pressure on the bargaining table,\u201d he said. \u201cIf there is no bargaining table it makes no sense, there shouldn\u2019t be a strike.\u201d<\/p>\n He added the union had rejected a contract offer that would have made the airline\u2019s mechanics the \u201cbest-paid in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n In an update to its membership, the union negotiating committee referenced an order by the Canada Industrial Relations Board that does not explicitly bar any strikes or lockouts as the tribunal undertakes arbitration.<\/p>\n Sean McVeigh, a WestJet aircraft maintenance engineer picketing Saturday at Toronto Pearson<\/a> International Airport Terminal 3, said the strike is an attempt to force the airline to return to a \u201crespectful negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n McVeigh said the union regrets any inconvenience caused to passengers.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, the reason they (passengers) have possibly missed a flight or had to cancel is due to the reason that WestJet is not respectfully sitting down at the table and negotiating,\u201d he said alongside roughly 20 others on the picket line.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take on a lot of responsibility and we would just like to be appreciated financially,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n At Pearson, WestJet passengers Samin Sahan and Samee Jan said they had been planning to leave Saturday with extended family members on a trip to Calgary that had been planned for six to eight months.<\/p>\n Sahan said they had received emails earlier in the day telling them their flight had been rescheduled for Monday, but they went to the terminal anyway. He said their efforts to seek clarification combined with the strike had left their travel plans up in the air.<\/p>\n \u201cThis inaction is hurting a lot of people, their own company as well as their customers who will likely no longer be their customers ever again,\u201d Sahan said.<\/p>\n Jan called the situation \u201csad.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to the Fortune Next to Lead newsletter to get weekly strategies on how to make it to the corner office. Sign up for free<\/a>.<\/div>\n