Rick Mercer gives Air Canada kudos on new jobs.

[Chaxterium]

God bless Rick Mercer.

EDIT: My apologies, apparently I don't know how to embed youtube videos so I'll just post the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... TAiWzxHALc

Cheers,
Chax

[Flying Nutcracker]

That's awesome! At first I was like WTF??? But then... I saw the sarcasm! Great perspective!

[CanadianEh]

$10.80 for that kind of work? Brutal! This is exactly what the conservative government was hoping for. Bust the unions and get rid of all the good jobs at air canada and leave more money in the trough for the pigs.

[MrWings]

Next you'll hear that there is a shortage of ground service personnel in Canada and they have to bring in forgein workers.

[Stu Pidasso]

it is all about extremes. Historically AC has paid outrageous wages to work on the ramp, in return they have got substandard service from the IAM workers. Blows holes in the "you get what you pay for" theories.

The problem has been the IAM, they rob from the skilled workers (the AME's) who are grossly underpaid. And give to the unskilled (ramp workers) who are overpaid.

[flyinggreasemonkey]

Welcome to the discount Canada! Where people who work hard for a living can't make a living at all!

very very well put...ties into the line "Lets put the politicians on minimum wage and see what happens."

[wallypilot]

It's not only in aviation. When's the last time you talked to a Telco CSR in Canada? The first line now in customer servic with the Ike's of Bell and Telus, etc is in the Philippines, India, etc. 15 years ago, those were $20 / hr + jobs. It's the hollowing out of the middle class. It was inevitable that a company like AC would do this. I don't like it, but it's being driven by us, the consumer. In order to do things cheaper, this is what AC needs to do.

What does Swissport pay their ground support staff to start? ( thinking of WJ ground support here?)

[Panama Jack]

Now what I don't get is the cost of very basic looking houses in Canada, in an economy where people are making the kinds of wages which I read about. Approaching $1 Million for a dump in Vancouver. Oh, I know. . . it's a great city with a pleasant climate.

[Dash-Ate]

Now what I don't get is the cost of very basic looking houses in Canada, in an economy where people are making the kinds of wages which I read about. Approaching $1 Million for a dump in Vancouver. Oh, I know. . . it's a great city with a pleasant climate.

You need to follow www.greaterfool.ca Garth writes a new one daily check the history. Tons of great numbers and trends.

[Colonel Sanders]

I guess no one here has heard about the disappearance
of the manufacturing sector in Canada

The good thing is that I'm sure not one person here
has ever shopped at Walmart, either.

[Stu Pidasso]

And Sky Regional is about to pay 50% of what Air Canada pays for EMB Pilots.

[torx]

it is all about extremes. Historically AC has paid outrageous wages to work on the ramp, in return they have got substandard service from the IAM workers. Blows holes in the "you get what you pay for" theories.

The problem has been the IAM, they rob from the skilled workers (the AME's) who are grossly underpaid. And give to the unskilled (ramp workers) who are overpaid.

Stu....listening to your best friend Dr Boeing again?? LOL!
AC paying Floor Sweepers, Parts Cleaners and Stock Keepers in the Mtce branch $$/hr ? And no P/T. I'll let you discover the wages.
Rampies, now almost 40% are P/T at Air Canada and start @ $10.80/hr. That's less than Swissport, Westjet TAC, Porter and Servisair. Sure, there are some Rampies on the "cadillac" salary, but they are becoming few and far between due to the last few collective agreements which included two tiered wage scales, retirements, increased P/T caps, lower starting salaries and I believe a 12 year span F/T to reach max salary. Most new hires dont even last 6 months.
I will agree with you that Mtce. needs an uplift, but Rampies "grossly overpaid" ? You need to research and stop listening to "all" the B/S !
Just so it's clear...there are no P/T or $10.80/hr positions at Mtce.

[Stu Pidasso]

Sorry, 3 decades of witnessing the perfomance of the IAM on the ramp has pushed me over the edge. The sooner AC outsources the ramp, the better.

Westjet doesn't put up with the lost luggage and waiting for the ....slow moving.....bad attitude..... rampies that AC does.

[Jastapilot]

Nice to see someone finally notice. Good Rant Rick, but 6 or so years late. Air Canada has been systematically 'eliminating' full time positions for permanent part time positions since CCAA. I know an Air Canada CSA who went through it. They're told they're overstaffed, and X number of positions are to be eliminated... then replaced with multiple part timers, with either minimal or no benefits.

[torx]

Sorry, 3 decades of witnessing the perfomance of the IAM on the ramp has pushed me over the edge. The sooner AC outsources the ramp, the better.

Westjet doesn't put up with the lost luggage and waiting for the ....slow moving.....bad attitude..... rampies that AC does.

It will eventually be outsourced...as was Payroll, Heavy Mtce. and Res, and it has worked soooo much better since!
Seems to me that some flying being outsourced as well? Time will tell...... be careful what you wish for!
Westjet will hardly ever lose luggage flying point to point. But you already knew that!
And FWIW....I think there are more "good" rampies then "bad" ones.
And don't be sorry...we are all entitled to our own opinions.

[sanjet]

I thought 10 years ago aviation would be one of the industries that couldn't be subcontracted out to other countries for a cheaper price so we would be relatively safe.
Today I stand somewhat corrected.

[KAG]

I just don't get corporate thinking. How does one afford to live in a major urban centre and survive on those wages?
How does a company expect to attract good workers willing to work on those wages?
How does our GOV expect to keep it's tax base up if they keep chipping away at the middle class...
With today's high cost of living and decreasing wages something has got to give. Sadly it's going to be the middle class.

[Stu Pidasso]

The solution is, these are no longer career jobs and the corporations are happy with a high turn over. I completely agree that we are seeing the erosion of the middle class, but, what constitutes "middle class?"

Where is the line that an unskilled labor job (rampie) should entitle you for membership in the "Middle Class."

The days of earning 80K/year chucking bags are over !

torx: AC does a little bit of "point-point" flying and we top the charts for losing luggage.

[torx]

The solution is, these are no longer career jobs and the corporations are happy with a high turn over. I completely agree that we are seeing the erosion of the middle class, but, what constitutes "middle class?"

You are so correct! No longer career jobs!

Where is the line that an unskilled labor job (rampie) should entitle you for membership in the "Middle Class."

Correct...who am I to judge who should be entitled for "membership in the Middle Class".

The days of earning 80K/year chucking bags are over !

Could you post a scan of a rampie's T4? I'd like to see that!

torx: AC does a little bit of "point-point" flying and we top the charts for losing luggage.

Stu...you're not comparing apples to apples on that one! And could you post a chart for "Lost Luggage Performance in North America"?

Thanks!

[torx]

I just don't get corporate thinking. How does one afford to live in a major urban centre and survive on those wages?
How does a company expect to attract good workers willing to work on those wages?
How does our GOV expect to keep it's tax base up if they keep chipping away at the middle class...
With today's high cost of living and decreasing wages something has got to give. Sadly it's going to be the middle class.

Kag, people are willing to work for those wages for possible benefits. Not sure what benefits P/T workers receive, but they usually have another P/T job they work at as well to try and make ends meet. However, there is an endless supply of people willing to try the ramp job out for P/T hours @ $10.80/hr.
Obviously, for reasons unknown, there are people out there that don't mind seeing the "middle class" being reduced to poverty level. Not sure where the wage scale falls under to be classified as "middle class"

[justwork]

I just don't get corporate thinking. How does one afford to live in a major urban centre and survive on those wages?
How does a company expect to attract good workers willing to work on those wages?
How does our GOV expect to keep it's tax base up if they keep chipping away at the middle class...
With today's high cost of living and decreasing wages something has got to give. Sadly it's going to be the middle class.

Kag, there isn't anything to get. This is just another prime example of middle class erosion. The company doesn't expect to attract good workers, the intend to attract cheap workers, some guy who is out of the job and is either going to start selling out HJ's at the bus station or apply to AC... Thing is in 6 months he'll smarten up and head down to the bus station and start working on his grip. The company wont care because the labor is cheap enough that they can afford %200 turnover that they're going to see. What's going to give? Our economy the second prime jumps 3%.

[xsbank]

Interesting... my parents live in a community in Vancouver that is so expensive to live in, the local shops keep going bust, one reason is that none of their workers can afford to live in the community and are unwilling to ride multiple buses from communities they CAN afford to live in for 10.00 an hour (or whatever minimum wage is in BC) so either the owners do everything and burn out or they hire high school kids whom are unwilling to work hard because their parents give them everything anyway. Going to work at McD-type jobs in a BMW and texting on their iPhones... Many companies end up importing people from the Philippines or Mexico to work these jobs because there is no willing local supply of workers and the imports work hard for nothing.

Air Canada has an unlimited supply of offshore workers to fill those once-good paying jobs and soon we will have Indians or Kazackstanis (sp - sorry) who will fly the airplanes for a hand full of peanuts and a small bag of dirt.

This is why there are so many unemployed in the US. Shut down a toaster factory and fire the workers, send production off-shore and the locals who used to make toasters now are on welfare and can't afford to buy Chinese toasters with the same brand-name. There are no more high-paying manufacturing jobs and everyone drinks or smokes crack and the populace crumbles, ergo bingo 'Walmart people.' One day you should try driving through upstate New York or down the Eastern seaboard and check out the empty crack-towns. We have virtually no manufacturing or good-paying mill jobs in Canada and so far we are just holding our heads up. With the erosion of companies like Air Canada, our profession will have no progression and the good-paying airline jobs will all be a fond memory. Ask yourself how useful an unemployed pilot is to the community?

That feels better. RANT SWITCH..................OFF

[Dash-Ate]

I just don't get corporate thinking. How does one afford to live in a major urban centre and survive on those wages?
How does a company expect to attract good workers willing to work on those wages?
How does our GOV expect to keep it's tax base up if they keep chipping away at the middle class...
With today's high cost of living and decreasing wages something has got to give. Sadly it's going to be the middle class.

Survive on cheap credit. Never ever before could you get a mortgage at 2.5%! People would have laughed at the idea.
Kids 18 first year in college can easily get credit cards. 5-10k limit I am sure. Plus the student loans...

[ettw]

Hate to say it but we, the consumers have to be held partly culpable for the middle class erosion. Nobody wants to pay reasonably for products or services. Nobody wants to pay 49$ for a toaster, they want it for free. If they can't get it free, then the rollback prices at Walmart will do. 12.87$ for a toaster? Same goes to a certain extent for air travel. Nobody wants to pay 995$ to get to YVR. Rollback price to YVR? 289$ it is.

Let's face it, the executive and managements at our airlines aren't taking the pay cuts we as an industry are seeing. Why is that? They are probably making the same sort of money they were 10 yrs ago BUT due to the marketplace pressure for a cheap ticket price they have to find the savings elsewhere. Employees paying the price for the marketplace vs executive remuneration.

I know this will sound a little idealistic but if everyone went down the aisles at Walmart and paid a little more for made in Canada or at least north America products maybe we'd improve things a bit.

I took the time one day to look through all the golf balls on the shelf to find some made in Canada. They're there, you just have to take the time and pay a little more

ETTW

[flyincanuck]

I do not agree with Rick here.

Finally AC is not paying obscene wages for UN-SKILLED labour.

The unskilled labour pay at AC is out of control.

Some of the luggage grunts' pensions are more than starting salary for a pilot.

C'mon guys...give your heads a shake. The message seems pro-AC employee, but think about it.

When Rick was a dish washer, he didn't have an opportunity to jet half-way around the world for a few hundred bucks.

Un-skilled labour isn't supposed to be a lifetime career.