Air Canada laying-off?? News article
Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2011 6:31 am
Airline staff fear for jobs [1/2]
ROSS ROMANIUK, QMI Agency
WINNIPEG - Scores of Winnipeg's Air Canada staffers held a rally Friday over fears for their jobs and for thousands of others.
About 80 of the unionized airplane maintenance employees at a St. James hangar gathered outside the complex to hear Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North) tell them he's pushing the federal Conservative government to protect their livelihoods.
"Manitoba cannot afford to lose these types of jobs," he told media.
The workers claim the airline and another firm maintaining its planes, Aveos Fleet Performance Inc., plan to move their work to El Salvador or possibly other countries. They say the change would kill at least 500 jobs in Winnipeg and a few thousand positions in other Canadian cities.
Lorne Hammerberg, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 714, said the groundwork for the move was laid in the past few years when Air Canada "hived off" its technical services to Aveos, "a whole different entity" with facilities in Canada and El Salvador.
"They've told us in the past that there is no future for heavy maintenance in Canada," he said. "If it's not happening today, it's going to happen down the road."
ROSS ROMANIUK, QMI Agency
WINNIPEG - Scores of Winnipeg's Air Canada staffers held a rally Friday over fears for their jobs and for thousands of others.
About 80 of the unionized airplane maintenance employees at a St. James hangar gathered outside the complex to hear Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North) tell them he's pushing the federal Conservative government to protect their livelihoods.
"Manitoba cannot afford to lose these types of jobs," he told media.
The workers claim the airline and another firm maintaining its planes, Aveos Fleet Performance Inc., plan to move their work to El Salvador or possibly other countries. They say the change would kill at least 500 jobs in Winnipeg and a few thousand positions in other Canadian cities.
Lorne Hammerberg, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 714, said the groundwork for the move was laid in the past few years when Air Canada "hived off" its technical services to Aveos, "a whole different entity" with facilities in Canada and El Salvador.
"They've told us in the past that there is no future for heavy maintenance in Canada," he said. "If it's not happening today, it's going to happen down the road."
Lets me get this right: Canada we deal with SMS, AOSH, OSH, Health and Safety, cold weather, high taxes. With all that government intervention and subsequent overhead, no wonder why industry moves.