Private Equity Ownership Always Has an Exit Plan

WestJet is not owned by a traditional airline company. It is owned by Onex, a private equity firm whose business model is straightforward. Companies are acquired, restructured to improve financial performance, and ultimately sold or taken public for profit.

This is not speculation. It is the standard private equity lifecycle and it has been widely reported in financial and aviation media. Onex has already recovered significant value from its WestJet investment through partial stake sales and restructuring of ownership while retaining control of the airline. Industry reporting has also pointed to potential future public offering or sale scenarios once profitability targets are achieved.

For workers, that broader context matters.

Job Cuts Continue Across the Operation

This week, workers reported that approximately fifty additional jobs have been cut across the commercial division at campus. These reductions follow earlier job losses around the Christmas period and continued restructuring across multiple divisions.

None of this is happening in isolation.

Unifor reported on Contact Centre job cuts and outsourcing risks in December, noting that hundreds of roles had already been moved offshore and warning that further reductions could follow. That warning referenced clear messaging from leadership around cost pressures and the possibility of additional changes. Management signalled that labour costs were too high and that nothing was off the table. Workers are now seeing what that means in practice.

Each round of cuts makes the airline leaner and more attractive to future investors or buyers. From a private equity standpoint, this is predictable. From a worker standpoint, it raises serious questions about job security and long term stability.

This is not about creating fear. It is about understanding the environment we are working in.

Why More WestJet Workers Are Moving Toward Union Representation

Across WestJet, non union workers are moving toward enforceable representation and real workplace rights.

Crew schedulers have an application before the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
Contact Centre workers have filed their application and continue building support.
YEG remains actively organizing and moving toward majority support.
Campus workers under TAPS are also increasingly looking toward union representation.

Workers are not reacting out of panic. They are responding to what they are seeing and experiencing. They want real protections and a real voice.

They are seeking:

• Job protection language
• Transparent restructuring processes
• Enforceable scheduling and workload protections
• A formal voice in workplace decisions
• Collective bargaining rights

A union provides a legally binding framework that requires the employer to negotiate changes rather than impose them.

Internal Associations and the False Narrative of Security

While workers move toward real representation, internal employee organizations continue to promote the message that everything is stable and that current structures are enough.

At YEG, AEA communications continue to suggest informal processes provide protection.
Within the Contact Centre, the CCEA has circulated similar messaging.
On campus, TAPS communications reinforce the idea that workers already have a voice and that things are fine.

Recent history tells a different story.

Internal associations do not have legal bargaining authority.
They cannot negotiate contracts.
They cannot prevent layoffs or outsourcing.
They cannot compel transparency.
They cannot enforce job protection language.
They cannot take disputes to binding arbitration.

Their influence exists only at management’s discretion. They cannot hold the employer accountable when major decisions are made.

That is not about personalities. It is about structure. When job cuts happen, when work is outsourced, when restructuring takes place, these organizations have no legal mechanism to stop it.

Workers Have Seen This Before

Since Onex acquired WestJet, workers have seen repeated restructuring, outsourcing, and job reductions. Work has been shifted, classifications reduced, and pressure increased in the name of efficiency. Each time, assurances of stability were offered. Each time, final decisions rested solely with the employer.

WestJet workers have learned this lesson before.

Pilots, flight attendants, airport agents at YYC, YVR and YYZ, AMEs, and Dispatchers all moved away from internal associations years ago and chose independent unions with full legal bargaining rights. They did so because real job protection requires enforceable agreements and independent representation.

More non union groups across WestJet are now reaching the same conclusion.

A Seat at the Table Matters

Thousands of WestJet workers already benefit from collective agreements that provide enforceable rights, negotiated wages, scheduling protections, and due process. Those agreements will continue to strengthen in upcoming bargaining.

The question facing non union groups is simple. When decisions are made about restructuring, outsourcing, or the future ownership of the airline, will workers have a seat at the table or will those decisions be made without them.

Every signed membership card moves workers closer to enforceable protections and a formal voice. The momentum across Crew Scheduling, the Contact Centre, campus groups, and YEG reflects a growing understanding that stability and fairness are strongest when workers stand together with real bargaining power.

What Comes Next

If you believe workers deserve real job protection and enforceable rights, now is the time to act.

Talk with a trusted coworker about what is happening and where things are heading. If you have already signed a membership card, encourage someone you trust to do the same. If you have not signed yet, take the time to learn what union representation actually means and how it protects everyone.

Majority support is how workers secure a real seat at the table.
Stronger rights come when workers stand together.