Mayors ask Harper government to intervene in Air Canada , Aveos dispute

Mayors of the three cities of Montreal Quebec, Winnipeg Manitoba, and Mississauga Ont. have jointly asked the Prime Minister Stephen Harper to call for a meeting between Aveos and Air Canada. The idea is to keep Aveos operating so as to save jobs.
The three mayors say they have spoken to the president of Air Canada and he said we would participate in such discussions. Aveos has ceased operations terminating 3,300 jobs.
The mayors claim that Air Canada has an obligation to keep main the repair services under the terms of the Air Canada Public Participation Act. Air Canada has begun outsourcing maintenance. Some maintenance is now done in China.For more see this CBC article.
When Air Canada was privatized an Act was passed that imposed certain obligations on the privatized company. Dave Ritchie who is Canadian General Vice President of the IAMAW explains the situation this way.:“The act stipulates that Air Canada must maintain aircraft heavy maintenance facilities or have such work performed at facilities in Winnipeg, Mississauga and Montreal,” Aveos had aircraft maintenance facilities in all three cities.. But now Ritchie claims:“Since Air Canada is pulling this work from these facilities and seeking alternative suppliers, AVEOS has subsequently ceased operations affecting 1,785 highly skilled workers in Montreal, 412 in Winnipeg and 356 in Vancouver,”
The union took Air Canada to court when it privatized its maintenance work. Ritchie goes on:. “This is exactly why we took Air Canada to court when it sold its maintenance unit to Aveos. We knew this could happen and now it has. Air Canada has an obligation to these workers, their families and the Air Canada Public Participation Act.” Apparently their obligation to make a profit and please their shareholders takes priority. See this article.

Workers protest job losses at Quebec legislature

Aveos an aircraft maintenance and repair company is liquidating the company with the loss of 1800 jobs in Montreal alone. There are branches in Vancouver and Winnipeg as well.

Workers from the Montreal plant are massing at Quebec province's national assembly in Quebec city. They are requesting the government to take legal action to save their jobs.

A union representative said:."It's a mood of desolation," "It's like having another big slap in the face…. Yesterday we had the bad news that Aveos is finally bankrupt, and it's gonna be liquidated. So what does it say to us? It says everybody is out of a job. But you know, we're talking about 1,800 jobs in Quebec, and around 3,000 for the rest of the country.""

The union blames Air Canada for the situation. Originally Aveos was a company that was part of Air Canada itself. Some time after being privatized Air Canada hived off its maintenance to the new company Aveos with many former workers employed there. No doubt to save money. Now it seems that Air Canada is finding even cheaper places to have maintenance done such as China. As a result the company is cutting Aveos out of its maintenance program which was 90 per cent of Aveos work.

Air Canada offered 15 million to keep the company going according to company officials. Aveos too blamed Air Canada for its troubles. A company statement said:"Since the beginning of the year, [Aveos's] principal customer reduced, deferred and cancelled maintenance work, which resulted in approximately $16 million in lost revenue in less than two months,""While Aveos remained ready, willing and able to perform such work, such work did not materialize. This was a devastating blow to Aveos." No doubt Air Canada hoped to switch over to cheaper maintenance operators for some time but did not expect this sudden public relations disaster to be added to its labor problems.

Pilots for Air Canada have been calling in sick. The company planned to lock the pilots out but the government stepped in and now has back to work legislation ready. Cargo handlers and ground crews were also set to strike. No sign of any end to the turbulence. For more see this article.

Air Canada suffers more turbulence as maintenance company crashes

About two hundred workers from the maintenance company Aveos have closed off access to the head office of Air Canada in Montreal near the Trudeau Airport. The company shut down suddenly without notice to workers. The company performed maintenance work for Air Canada.

Air Canada was about to lock out pilots and also faced a strike by ground crews when the government intervened. In protest pilots have been calling in sick causing some flight delays over the weekend.

On Sunday the Aveos locked out at least 2,400 staff at plants in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and the largest in Montreal. In Montreal about 200 workers blocked a road into Air Canada offices. They held signs calling on the government to intervene. They prevented Air Canada workers from entering the offices. The company has about 1800 affected staff in Montreal plus 350 in Winnipeg and 250 in Vancouver. All were locked out.

Originally Air Canada maintenance was carried out by a division of the company itself Air Canada Technical Services. As often happens to save money the company formed an independent company in 2007 and renamed Aveos the next year. They had a contract for maintenance up to 2014. Air Canada was the firms largest customer.

As is common these days, Air Canada has been contracting out even further afield and no doubt at cheaper rates. Air Canada is now sub-contracting out maintenance of landing gear and engines to other companies including Chinese providers. No doubt this has made Aveo unprofitable. For more see this CBC article, and also here.