Off Shore Subcontracting of jobs has started, who is next?

[43S/172E]

I believe that this will be the first in a series of Air Canada jobs being subcontracted to other countries such as China.

Jean Marc has his work cut out for him and it will make 1998 seem like a walk in the park! I wish him well and good luck.

What ever the fights you have had in the past be it merger, retirement issues etc put it aside as you are in for a very tough battle.



Aircraft machinists fear for future of Aveos
ROSS MAROWITS
MONTREAL— The Canadian Press
Published Monday, Mar. 12, 2012 2:12PM EDT
Last updated Monday, Mar. 12, 2012 2:27PM EDT
A union that represents 2,700 employees at Aveos Fleet Performance Inc. fears for the future of the aircraft maintenance company after Air Canada (AC.B-T0.930.011.09%) moved to subcontract some of its work offshore.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers represents maintenance and overhaul workers at Aveos as well as Air Canada’s mechanics, baggage handlers and ramp personnel.
The union's members at Air Canada had given notice they would strike March 12 after the two sides failed to reach a contract agreement but federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt blocked that move last week.
Ms. Raitt said Monday she would follow up last week's intervention in the Air Canada labour dispute with back-to-work legislation.
In the Aveos negotiation, the machinists union is seeking conciliation – a process involving federal officials – in a bid to get more details about the financial difficulties facing the Air Canada spinoff.
“We're trying to determine what's going on because there's a lot of work that's exclusive to Aveos that Air Canada is not bringing in,” Fred Hospes, chairman of the IAMAW District 140 Western Region, said in an interview.
Up to 300 jobs in Vancouver and more than 100 workers in Montreal and Winnipeg are at risk this summer, Mr. Hospes said.
Air Canada has moved maintenance of landing gear and engines out of Aveos facilities and is subcontracting work to other maintenance providers, including to China. The airline has also delayed some work until the fall.
“For sure there's going to be layoffs as a result of this,” Mr. Hospes said.
“There's no doubt that Vancouver will be hit come the summer, starting in June. There's a possibility that airframe maintenance workers in Montreal and Winnipeg [will be] affected.”
He said the union's concerns are heightened by Aveos’s efforts last week to lay off nearly 100 workers, Air Canada’s subcontracting moves and fears that required pension payments aren't being made.
The union also said Aveos has negotiated with a new benefit service provider that provides transferred Air Canada employees with benefits levels below what’s included in the last collective agreement.
The union said federal authorities are verifying whether the former Air Canada Technical Services division is continuing to make required contributions to the employee pension plan. The company won't provide the union with proof that the payments are continuing.
Mr. Hospes believes Air Canada is moving work from Aveos because it is concerned about the company's financial situation and wants to protect its assets.
“If they should have a financial crisis at Aveos, I think Air Canada does not want their products in there.”
The airline is Aveos's largest customer, which provides about 90 per cent of its maintenance overhaul work. Its exclusive contract expires in June, 2013, and Air Canada has issued a request for proposals for future contracts.
Air Canada spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur wouldn't specifically comment on its subcontracting moves.
“While the bulk of Air Canada's scheduled heavy maintenance is done by Aveos, we have always obtained additional services from other MRO [maintenance, repair and overhaul] providers as required,” she said in an e-mail.
“Aveos has been a separate company from Air Canada since 2004. We do not comment on speculation concerning our suppliers.”
Aveos spokeswoman Daniela Pizzuto declined to comment on financial difficulties facing the company or its efforts to address those challenges.
“When we're prepared, we'll let everyone know,” she said in a brief interview.
In 2010, the company reached an agreement with its lenders to reduce its debt to $75-million from about $800-million.

[CanadianEh]

I believe that this will be the first in a series of Air Canada jobs being subcontracted to other countries such as China.

I don't know about machinists et al, but I don't think we'll see pilot jobs going to China seeing as how Chinese airlines are cherry picking Canadian pilots and paying them higher wages with retention bonuses

[43S/172E]

Canadianeh you are quite correct in that as it will be more Mtce, I.T. customer service

But the low cost airline could be the stalking horse. Our Ozzie friends have had a lot of fun with Jetstar.

In closing I really want to be wrong about jobs such as pilots as there are many people in Canada aspiring to have a life long career in Canada be it in CYYC CYYZ or CYTZ and it would sad to see a version of Jetstar happen in Canada.

[43S/172E]

Air Canada maintenance firm shuts down plants
Union fears Aveos job losses in Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver
CBC News Posted: Mar 18, 2012 7:05 PM CT Last Updated: Mar 18, 2012 9:32 PM CT Read 114 comments114
A notice posted at Aveos Fleet Performance Inc.'s Winnipeg plant on Sunday says the company has 'ceased the operation of airframe maintenance.' (Justin Fraser/CBC)



Lorne Hammerberg on Aveos lockout5:38
Lorne Hammerberg on Aveos lockout5:38Aveos Fleet Performance Inc., a private company that maintains many of Air Canada's aircraft, shut down its plants on Sunday, locking out at least 2,400 workers and telling them not to return to work.

Approximately 1,800 of the affected employees are based in Montreal, while 350 are in Winnipeg and 250 are in Vancouver, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

"The maintenance component that supplies work to the Air Canada fleet has effectively ceased operations," Lorne Hammerberg, the union's local president in Winnipeg, told CBC News.

"The base manager and his senior managers came down today to the hangars, told the guys they were no longer in operation and to remove themselves from the premises."

Aveos posted a sign at its Winnipeg plant late Sunday afternoon, stating, "We regret to advise you that effective immediately, Aveos Fleet Performance Inc. has ceased the operation of airframe maintenance."

Union officials in Vancouver confirmed that employees at the Aveos plant there had been told to go home and leave all their equipment and personal items behind.

Aveos officials did not return calls by CBC News for comment on Sunday.

Some work subcontracted
Hammerberg said he fears total job losses at Aveos, since there has been no talk of restructuring the company to date.

Aveos started out in 1937 as Air Canada Technical Services, the airline's in-house maintenance division. It became an independent company an October 2007 and was renamed Aveos the following year, according to its website.

Hammerberg said the Aveos plant in Winnipeg has maintained Air Canada's Airbus and Embraer fleet.

"Between ourselves, Montreal and Vancouver, we have the expertise to do any type of aircraft," he said.

Air Canada is the firm's largest customer — it provides about 90 per cent of its maintenance overhaul work. Its exclusive contract expires in June 2013 and Air Canada has issued a request for proposals for future contracts.

'Absolutely no joke'
Hammerberg said union officials had heard there were "some financial issues with the company" over the past couple of weeks, but they had no idea a total shutdown was in the works.

"At first, I thought it was a joke because, of course, management has not informed anybody in the union that this was happening," he said. "I started making phone calls, and it was absolutely no joke."

The union does not know what the latest development could mean for Air Canada's maintenance program, he added.

The union, which represents aircraft machinists, mechanics, baggage handlers and ramp personnel, has feared for the future of Aveos after Air Canada moved to subcontract some of its work offshore.

Air Canada has moved maintenance of landing gear and engines out of Aveos's facilities and is subcontracting work to other maintenance providers, including in China. The airline has also delayed some work until the fall.

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick told CBC News the airline did not have much to say about the situation at Aveos.

"We do not comment about speculation concerning our suppliers," Fitzpatrick said in an email late Sunday.

Fitzpatrick said the bulk of Air Canada's scheduled heavy maintenance is done by Aveos, but added the airline has "always obtained additional services from other [maintenance, repair and operations] providers."

[c170b53]

No parts, no NDT, no composite, just your basic slow-mo wing over into a tight spiral. Going to be an interesting summer.

[slickmag]

I know the last Pilot I had an encounter with in T1 when I was supporting another union in their demonstration told me to "get the f**k out of my way", In 11 years I have never got a thank you... from a passenger or a crew member. Maybe it's time for the pilot group to say something in public!

http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/third-w ... g-a/nDNwr/

Enjoy your flights,

[Clyde River]

Very sad days.

These were Air Canada employees who did what they thought best to try to provide for their families. They were given some options, but lacking in explanations. AVEOS was another shell. The LCCs will be too.

I am kind of shocked that Westjet would open the door for this kind of abuse. I sincerely wish them the best in their LCC/connector that they have approved.

I'm out shortly, but still never more concerned about my future that I've worked for. Yes AC haters will say "what, you worked for what?" Well my pension and benefits were part of a package as a whole. Obviously to have a pension you have to give up immediate gratification and compensation in some form for a delayed payout. That's pretty basically what the pension idea was about. Now it is serious question.

I believe that Air Canada is manoevering to divide up the company, like AVEOS and ship the jobs somewhere else. The "essential" service will be no more. The whole thing about a lock out by AC to a demand from the government for essential economic service -- which will mean crappola in the end -- to now seeking a faked injunction about employee action, is meant to send AC to CCAA once again. Never to return, like AVEOS.

Sad days.

Clyde

[FADEC]

Today's Globe And Mail reports that Air Canada squeezed AVEOS out of business by deferring work for two months. Thus AC can avoid the contractual committment to provide business to AVEOS.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... le2373655/

This is the same sort of tactics that Air Canada is using against employees; create a crisis, such as underfunding the Pension, or declaring a pending Lockout, then exploit that crisis to squeeze the employees. If weather causes delays, blame it on the Pilots. If delayed maintenance causes cancellations, blame it on AVEOS.

The current CEO will create several LCC's, then shut down the Mainline. The obligations of the Mainline to Employees and Retirees will go unfulfilled. As with AVEOS, the AC CEO actually doesn't care whether the successor companies survive; he will disappear into the sunset with his bonus.

[pa31guy]

I see AC letting aveos going bust tgan buying the assets (hangers, tools, ect). Than putting out a big job add for new AME's working for AC. They would all be new AC hires and as such would start at low pay less holidays and no pension problems brings the maint nack in house at a huge reduction in cost.

[c170b53]

It's a bit easier to take something apart than put it back together and AC can't even organize the apart thing. AC knew this was going to happen; it after all was their plan but they got their feet tangled up and now they have two wide bodies stranded in Aveos with the gear out, not just a few planes needing checks and no one to do them efficiently. Should be easy to get that work done elsewhere but the entire O/H business has shrunk and those that have customers will service AC only if possible in the immediate future. Long term is definitely a different matter, low bidder, suspect paperwork and finish goes hand in hand. What many do not realize is the infrastructure required to do this work and that's why the ex AC engine shop in YUL will likely continue to sputter along until the engines they service become obsolete. What heavy industry is left in Canada other than oil and gas?

[accumulous]

It's a bit easier to take something apart than put it back together and AC can't even organize the apart thing. AC knew this was going to happen; it after all was their plan but they got their feet tangled up and now they have two wide bodies stranded in Aveos with the gear out, not just a few planes needing checks and no one to do them efficiently. Should be easy to get that work done elsewhere but the entire O/H business has shrunk and those that have customers will service AC only if possible in the immediate future. Long term is definitely a different matter, low bidder, suspect paperwork and finish goes hand in hand. What many do not realize is the infrastructure required to do this work and that's why the ex AC engine shop in YUL will likely continue to sputter along until the engines they service become obsolete. What heavy industry is left in Canada other than oil and gas?

Speaking of taking it apart and putting it back together,

Does anybody have any references, from the long list of Canadian carriers that have folded, for situations where Canadian air carriers enter into receivership for the second time?

If AC goes slam-pounding its way down the Receivership Runway again like an empty oil drum in a hurricane, is there any comparable example of a scenario for how the breakup would unfold? There’s the issue of landing rights, slot allocations, etc., merger scenarios if any. Any idea of how long it would take for a genuine folding of the rights and assets to unravel itself into something useful? Done in stages as in life support while segments are farmed? Or all at once like the overnight torpedoing of the retail flagship Eaton's? or Aveos?

Pundits?

[Legacy]

Jeez what does it take to get the upper management fired. Thats what should be happening. Too bad it wasn't legal to strike until the CEO, etc gets turfed.