To all Canadian pilots who applied to work at Sunwing.

[Gilles Hudicourt]

Ladies and gentlemen,

As you are all aware, Sunwing airlines posted two advertisements for pilots recently. One for non type rated seasonal pilots, and one for 120 B73C type rated pilots.

All these ads were primarily published to satisfy ESDC requirements in order to qualify for LMOs to import 120 Temporary Foreign Workers pilots into Canada for the 2014/2015 winter season.

The ad for non B73C type rated pilots is to satisfy ESDC that Sunwing has made a "reasonable effort to hire and train Canadian pilots". They will probably hire about 40 to 50 such pilots, including those seasonal Canadian pilots they hired and trained last year and that were let go in May 2014. A few additional Canadians will probably be hired and trained to satisfy ESDC.

The second ad is not meant to hire any Canadians. Its all smoke and mirrors, again to satisfy government bureaucracy that they made a genuine attempt to hire Canadians. ESDC has no way of veryfying that Canadians have or have not applied for the job. They have to take Sunwing's word for it.
Then there is the fact that Sunwing is the only company in Canada that will use the lack of a type rating to disqualify otherwise qualified Canadian pilots and hire type rated foreign pilots instead.
All airline pilot unions in Canada and all major Canadian airlines in Canada have informed ESDC that they do not require type ratings as a condition of employment and that when Sunwing requires a type rating in those ads it is inserted solely for the purpose of disqualifying Canadian pilots in order to hire type rated foreigners that Sunwing has already contracted to hire, including B737 captains.

I ask that all pilots who applied for a job at Sunwing airlines in response to either ad and who were not called and hired, whether you are B73C qualified or not, to send a copy of their Resume and cover letter to:

Mr Alexis Conrad
Director of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

Fax (819) 997 5979

Or by mail:

140 Promenade du Portage 
Gatineau, Quebec  K1A 0J9 
Canada

Mr Conrad is bound by the Privacy laws of Canada to keep your information confidential. Neither Sunwing nor anyone else outside ESDC will ever learn that you sent your Resume to ESDC.

Only by showing to ESDC the number of Canadian pilots who are actually interested in flying for Sunwing during the winter will ESDC be in a position to refuse the LMOs to Sunwing and prevent those 120 TFW pilots from once again taking those flying jobs away from Canadians.

Gilles Hudicourt

PS Many pilots do not read AvCanada so please pass the word to your friends and colleagues.

[trey kule]

All these ads were primarily published to satisfy ESDC requirements in order to qualify for LMOs to import 120 Temporary Foreign Workers pilots into Canada for the 2014/2015 winter season.

That is quite the claim. What evidence do you have to have determined this was their primary purpose? Your claim is not a fact unless backed up with some concrete evidence.

[Troubleshot]

Trey...that is a bit of a "head in the sand" comment. We all know what Sunwing is up to. If the heat wasn't on Sunwing they wouldn't advertise at all, just continue with the practice of using foreign pilots. You know it, I know, and everyone else with a grain of common sense knows it.

head_in_the_sand-461x307.jpg (55.21 KiB) Viewed 11004 times

[trey kule]

What I see is a whole bunch of people who believe exactly what they want to believe based on unsubstantiated claims, made by some.

The claim made, if true is serious. If not true, it is libellous.
Asking how Mr, H. came to make that claim is a fair question.

I will ignore the personal attack and slurs.....To bad that is all you have got.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Fact: SW hires foreign pilots under the TFW Program.

Fact: It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that the the program guidelines are followed, especially that a TFW is only hired after a good faith recruiting effort has failed to source a qualified Canadian.

Fact: Mr Conrad is the government official responsible for ensuring the program participants are following the rules and in particular are not deliberately disadvantaging qualified Canadians.

Fact: Questions have been raised that imply SW may not be fully compliant with all the requirements of the TFW program.

I think the recommendation that all pilots who applied simply send a copy of their application and CV to Mr Conrad is perfectly sensible.

If SW is in fact playing by the rules then Gilles does not have a leg to stand on. If SW is abusing the process then they are by definition disadvantaging Canadian pilots and they should be held accountable. Either way by virtue of the fact that SW has chosen to use TFW's, the onus of proof that they are not hiring TFW's over qualified Canadians; is on them.


TK: Why do you have a problem with that ?

[trey kule]

Fact: Questions have been raised that imply SW may not be fully compliant with all the requirements of the TFW program.

Your fact....questions have been raised...fair enough....but Mr H claims are not that anyone has questions, but a definitive claim that the primary purpose of the ads is to only comply with a requirement.

The problem I have is that many here take any claim he makes as a fact. And I simply asked what the basis for his claim was. Why do you have a problem with not blindly accepting that?

I also have a problem with people who make personal attacks on me for simply wanting some proof of his claim.

We all know what Sunwing is up to

Really? Is Sunwing up to something different than Transat? Or do we all know about Sunwing because a Transat advocate comes on here and tells us about bad old Sunwings and conveniently forgets to consider what his company is doing....or would like to do.

[Gilles Hudicourt]

Forget the trolls and those who want to send this thread on a tangent by attacking me, my motives, etc.

I am not asking for anyone to send me anything. I will not have access to what you send.

If you apply to Sunwing in response to these ads, it is very important that you all let ESDC know about it. That is the only way they will ever find out how many Canadian pilots want those jobs and are qualified for them.

Do not forget that Sunwing hires foreign Direct entry captains. So if you think you have what it takes to become a seasonal direct entry Captain at Sunwing, apply and let ESDC know, even if you are not presently current on the B73C.

[CanadianEh]

Forget the trolls and those who want to send this thread on a tangent by attacking me, my motives, etc.

I am not asking for anyone to send me anything. I will not have access to what you send.

If you apply to Sunwing in response to these ads, it is very important that you all let ESDC know about it. That is the only way they will ever find out how many Canadian pilots want those jobs and are qualified for them.

Do not forget that Sunwing hires foreign Direct entry captains. So if you think you have what it takes to become a seasonal direct entry Captain at Sunwing, apply and let ESDC know, even if you are not presently current on the B73C.

You da man Gilles! It's all about the paper trail with these politician dummies and this will definitely create one.

[Rockie]

What I see is a whole bunch of people who believe exactly what they want to believe based on unsubstantiated claims, made by some.

If you've watched the news in the last few months you will know what a poster child for abuse the foreign worker's program has been for many years in this country. You would have to be willfully blind not to have known what everybody else has for years despite the government's utterly unconvincing show of surprise at the state of the restaurant industry. Sunwing hasn't even tried to hide their abuse, it's just that nobody cared enough to force the whole sordid affair into the light until now.

[Gilles Hudicourt]

A reminder that all people who applied to Sunwing as a pilot in response to the recent ads and who were not hired, to forward their Resumés and any correspondence they may have had to Mr Alexis Conrad, Director of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program at ESDC.

If you look here at this Oct 28 2013 Memo from Deputy ESDC Minister Ian Shugart to Minister Jason Kenney, you will read some important things:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y5dxgakhg2q1a ... _38_42.pdf

The central issue relates to Sunwing and Canjet requiring applicants to be type-rated to fly a Boeing 737-800 NG.

Various stakeholders have indicated to us that airlines rather than individuals pay for the training to be type-rated on aircraft and that it is therefore very unusual to require a specific type-rating at the application stage.

Lacking explicit program requirements for pilot recruitment, Service Canada is currently assessing LMO applications consistent with previous years, including the extent to which the two companies lived up to commitments about hiring and training Canadian pilots. Decisions on those applications and associated Employer Compliance Reviews should be taken in the coming days.

To resolves this issue over the long term, the Department intends to issue a public statements indicating that in the future, all LMO applications for foreign pilots need to be submitted six months before work commences, and that the Department will work with industry stakeholders to align program requirements with standard recruitment methods for the industry.

In other words, if you think you have the experience and the qualifications to work either as a B737 captain or Second in Command and that you were turned down for lack of a valid B-737NG type-rating, you should let ESDC know about it.

Their main concern is that Canadians should not be denied jobs in favor of TFWs. If you were denied a job that Sunwing intends to offer to a TFW, ESDC should know about it.

This is the only way that this practice will stop.

Again for those who fear they may be blacklisted and lose all chance of being hired if they inform ESDC. Mr Alexis Conrad is an employee of the Federal Government of Canada and is bound by the laws of this country to preserve your personal information. His Department will never reveal your information to any outside source. But he needs to know about you.

Please spread the word.

[Sulako]

Hi Gilles,

I have no real dog in this hunt, though I do fundamentally feel that Canadians should fill Canadian job openings.

My question: Does Alexis have an email addy? Cause it's 2014 and that seems necessary.

[Gilles Hudicourt]

You are right.

http://www.edsc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/foreign_ ... ndex.shtml

Abuse of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program will not be tolerated.
To report misuse or abuse of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, contact:

Service Canada Confidential Tip Line
1-866-602-9448
integrity@servicecanada.gc.ca
Anonymous tips can also be provided to the Employer Contact Centre: 1-800-367-5693

[Gilles Hudicourt]

It seems like the page to report TFW fraud no longer works. The link leads to a 404 Error

[Rogerdodger2]

Probably sick of your baseless complaints.

[snoopy]

Gilles, I just clicked on the link in your post and it works fine for me? Temporary error perhaps?
Cheers,
Kirsten B.

[Jean-Luc Monette]

Probably sick of your baseless complaints.

And you're the one qualifying his complaints of baseless behind your anonymous handle?

[nottellin]

I just submitted a letter with my resume to the integrity email, I have not head anything from Sunwing, have over 5000 hours, lots of PIC, Jet, Turbine, and not a peep from Sunwing..

[whipline]

Sorry to hear nottellin. I think we're pretty much done interviews. I think with what's going on with KFC and canjet there's a lot of experienced pilots out there.

[nottellin]

Well that is fine as long as they are not bringing in foreign pilots to fly airplanes.

[Gilles Hudicourt]

They will. 120 TFW pilots plus 4 wet leases.

[Rogerdodger2]

And hire 50+ Canadians

[timel]

And hire 50+ Canadians

I'm sure long term SW business plan is better with Can pilots. Loads of wonderfull guys out there. Hope next year will be without TFW.

[Gilles Hudicourt]

For those who have not yet understood the scheme, I will explain.

Sunwing ran two ads in parralel. One for non rated First Officers, and the other for 120 type rated pilots.

Sunwing needs to hire about 170 seasonal contract pilots for next winter.

ESDC told them that in order to qualify to hire any foreign pilots they must demonstrate that they have made a significant effort to hire and train Canadian pilots. That effort is reflected in the ad they had for non 737NG co-pilots. They will hire about 40 to 50 seasonal Canadian contract pilots. Of that number, some may be hired without a type rating, others will be those that Sunwing had hired and trained last year but that were let go at the end of the season, and others will be 737 type rated guys like Canjet pilots. Regardless of your experience, even if you were a Canjet captain with years of experience, if you are hired as a seasonal contract pilot, you will be hired as an FO under the first ad. The Sunwing's pilot Collective Agreement does not allow Canadian pilots to be hired as seasonal Captains, only as first officers.

Sunwing then published a second set of ads, this one for 120 B737NG type rated pilots. It does not say First Officer on this ad, it is for "pilots". Because they need Captains and First Officers, even more Captains than first officers in this case. But that is not a real ad. Even if you are type rated on the 737NG and have all the requirements of the ad, you will not get hired. This ad is not there for you. It is only published to fulfil the ESDC requirement that before a job is given to a TFW, it must first be advertised in Canada. Even if Canjet was to find 30 type rated Canadian Captains, you would not get this job. The Sunwing CA will not allow it. Only foreign contract pilots can be hired as Captains according to the contract. Even if Sunwing finds 30 Canadian 737 rated pilots, these pilots will hired under the ad for the 40 to 50 co-pilots, and they will still hire 120 TFW pilots.

So the all Canadians, 737NG rated or not, Captain or not, are hired under the first ad as an FO. Once those ranks are filled, they intend to give the 120 other posts to TFW pilots, half of more will be captains. Some of the foreign pilots hired as Captains for Sunwing were not even captains in their country. They upgrade them just in time to deploy to Canada.
And no one will prevent this. Just watch.

[nottellin]

I hope some of the Jazz and other folks who are upset with Pilots lowering the bar by "working for less" are following this. When companies are allowed to do this type of thing it lowers the bar for everyone as it reduces the demand for Canadian Pilots and hinders their ability to acquire more lucrative type ratings with better working conditions.

[CMD-A]

What's lowering the bar is an expectation that as long as you have canadian passport and license someone owes you an airline job.