Toronto Star article on Temporary Foreign Worker pilots

[Gilles Hudicourt]

http://torontostar.newspaperdirect.com/ ... 99b/2/true

[Gilles Hudicourt]

A little message to Dan Adamus. Pilots with mortgages to pay cannot afford to "test" the news ESDC measures.
Experience has proven that when Sunwing Airlines expects to use Foreign pilots, Sunwing Airlines obtains foreign pilots.
They have an ad for 145 pilots on their website. The ex Sunwing Chief Pilot Mark Hugues wrote to you to tell you Sunwing only intended to hire 40+ pilots. What other tests do you need ? Home foreclosuses ?

It's time for action. It's time for you to act like a Union President, not like a very ineffective lobbist.

And Canadian pilots need a Canadian pilots licence.

UNIFOR defends the use of foreign pilots and ALPA defends the use of Foreign Pilots' Licences.

[Bradley Tucker]

So I wonder if Service Canada will extend my EI Claim as an unemployed pilot until there are no Foreign Pilots hired, as they are the department approving the use of Foreign Pilots.

Maybe all of us pilots on EI should go request benefits till they are not approving the use of Foreign Pilots.

[cdnpilot77]

I don't think that article, the way it's written, helps your fight much Gilles.

[Gilles Hudicourt]

I disagree. Mark Williams:

1) admits he plans on hiring 105 TFW pilots next year
2) admits that 900 Canadian pilots applied for those 145 jobs
3) claims a training bottleneck prevents the hiring of Canadian pilots.

May I remind you that until February 2014, Air Transat had no B737s. In December 2014 we operated 12 B737s, all flown by Canadian pilots, with Canadian licences. We Type rated over 125 pilots in the course of that period, plus hired about a dozen Type rated pilots. We did everyone's line indoctrination.

There was never any shortage of instructors, of simulators, of check airmen or of aircraft to do the line indoctrination and the route checks. And we only had one single 737 from Feb to April, then from may to Oct we went from one to four aircraft to finally go from 5 to 12 between late Oct and Mid December.

Sunwing Operated 32 B737s this winter (plus 5 wet-leases), and plans to operate 12 B737s this summer.

They have the time. They have the aircraft. They have the instructors. They have the check pilots. There are 26 Transport Canada approved 737NGs Simulators in the World.

http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/viewtopi ... rs#p927270

Including one in Prague, that Sunwing had Transport Canada certify so they could train their Czech pilots in the comfort of their own home before flying them over to Canada.

The "training bottleneck" is just another ploy and a gimmick to avoid having to hire Canadians and hire the TFW pilots from Europe.

[cdnpilot77]

I think unfortunately you are giving the general public too much credit for overall comprehension of the issue as a whole. They will believe what they are told to believe. The reporter gave the last few lines to the people who want to discredit you. They made a couple of points and it was left at that. That's what the readers are going to remember.

[FICU]

Smith blew his credibility when he accused Gilles' fight for a fellow Canadian airline to only use Canadian pilots as an attack on Sunwing using the word "kill".

We all know that those who are overly defensive are the most guilty.

[Takeoff OK]

Wow. You boys and girls over at Scumwing appear to have one hell of a union leader in Ron Smith. Good luck with that.

[rocket81]

http://www.unifor.org/en/about-unifor

Unifor is Canada’s largest private sector union, with more than 305,000 members across the country, working in every major sector of the Canadian economy.


Unifor brings a modern approach to unionism: adopting new tools, involving and engaging our members, and always looking for new ways to develop the role and approach of our union to meet the demands of the 21st century.

Every person of working age in Canada has a right to a good job and the benefits of economic progress.

Unifor has no interest for Canadian workers. An other bunch of politicos who sold their souls to the highest bidder.

[Dick]

Wow. You boys and girls over at Scumwing appear to have one hell of a union leader in Ron Smith. Good luck with that.

I give him as much credibility as a poster that resorts to a self satisfying, yet drole, moniker for the company in question.

I don't necessarily agree with the use of unreciprocated foreign pilots, but I also don't agree with using terms that degrade the employees of a company who go to work every day to support their families. I believe we can keep this discussion civil, and productive, while we work to find a solution to this debate.

[Takeoff OK]

Wow. You boys and girls over at Scumwing appear to have one hell of a union leader in Ron Smith. Good luck with that.

I give him as much credibility as a poster that resorts to a self satisfying, yet drole, moniker for the company in question.

I don't necessarily agree with the use of unreciprocated foreign pilots, but I also don't agree with using terms that degrade the employees of a company who go to work every day to support their families. I believe we can keep this discussion civil, and productive, while we work to find a solution to this debate.

The name is not a reflection of the pilots, with whom I have no beef; rather, it is directed at the scumbags running their show. When they stop behaving like scum, I'll stop calling them Scumwing.

[Gilles Hudicourt]

This gentleman is one of the elite few on my ignore list, and those who are on it have engaged in personal attacks against me to dodge the real issue of TFW pilots. Dick here was part of a wolf pack, that included some Sunwing people trying to convince readers that I was on Transat payroll to try to discredit the competition rather than genuinely fighting the foreign pilot isuue. He also claimed I did not criticize foreign pilots at Canjet but only at Sunwing.

[proper]

Hello Gilles, don't forget that the squeaky few that oppose you post here. Their reasoning is laughable. You are doing great work and I wholeheartedly support you. I know many of my colleagues at Jazz do as well. You are one of the very few that takes action when others shrug their shoulders. I congratulate you and am behind you all the way. 100% Canadian pilots in Canadian aircraft. What I find disgusting is the rules are there but are not being enforced. A first class outfit does not have to play back door games, skirting laws. If they do it for their staff... What else is going on over there? And you know if they could they wouldn't have any Canadian pilots and would looooove to operate like Norwegian is. The Canadian pilots at sunwing would only benefit from a resolution.
As I digress...
Gilles, keep up the heat. We will win one day thanks to you.

[Strobes]

May I remind you that until February 2014, Air Transat had no B737s. In December 2014 we operated 12 B737s, all flown by Canadian pilots, with Canadian licences. We Type rated over 125 pilots in the course of that period, plus hired about a dozen Type rated pilots. We did everyone's line indoctrination.

There was never any shortage of instructors, of simulators, of check airmen or of aircraft to do the line indoctrination and the route checks. And we only had one single 737 from Feb to April, then from may to Oct we went from one to four aircraft to finally go from 5 to 12 between late Oct and Mid December.

Sunwing Operated 32 B737s this winter (plus 5 wet-leases), and plans to operate 12 B737s this summer.

They have the time. They have the aircraft. They have the instructors. They have the check pilots. There are 26 Transport Canada approved 737NGs Simulators in the World.

[Devil's advocate]

Canjet did lots of your line-indoc training for you.

Also, Sunwing is trying to remain profitable. Transat had a few very bad quarters when the 37 showed up, didn't it?. Thank God for stock issuances and borrowing, eh?. An unprofitable business is unsustainable, and unsustainable means lots of pilots in the streets without a job.

Transat has the benefit (or is it curse?) of a multi-type fleet. Sunwing doesn't, and as such needs to have an accordion fleet. You cannot do the line-indoc training of 100+ pilots on 13 aircraft's worth of flights throughout Canada and Europe without having your line crew all sitting at home idle, losing flights to newcomers. I'd like to spend all summer on my deck, but that wouldn't mean a very secure job on the long run...

There is wind of change in the industry. No worry Gilles, there won't be a need for TFWs in the near future. Thank you.

[ahramin]

Also, Sunwing is trying to remain profitable. Transat had a few very bad quarters when the 37 showed up, didn't it?. Thank God for stock issuances and borrowing, eh?. An unprofitable business is unsustainable, and unsustainable means lots of pilots in the streets without a job.

That's a rather circular argument. It's ok to hire foreign pilots, in order to be more profitable, in order to have sustainable jobs for local pilots, except that it's more profitable to hire foreign pilots.

There is absolutely no way that any airline in Canada should need to hire foreign pilots as part of their business model. Sure it costs more, which should be built into the price of the ticket / vacation. If profitability is a reason to bring in TFWs, then all jobs in this country should be open to anyone in the world and most Canadians should be either at minimum wage or on welfare.

[sluggo]

May I remind you that until February 2014, Air Transat had no B737s. In December 2014 we operated 12 B737s, all flown by Canadian pilots, with Canadian licences. We Type rated over 125 pilots in the course of that period, plus hired about a dozen Type rated pilots. We did everyone's line indoctrination.

There was never any shortage of instructors, of simulators, of check airmen or of aircraft to do the line indoctrination and the route checks. And we only had one single 737 from Feb to April, then from may to Oct we went from one to four aircraft to finally go from 5 to 12 between late Oct and Mid December.

Sunwing Operated 32 B737s this winter (plus 5 wet-leases), and plans to operate 12 B737s this summer.

They have the time. They have the aircraft. They have the instructors. They have the check pilots. There are 26 Transport Canada approved 737NGs Simulators in the World.

[Devil's advocate]

Canjet did lots of your line-indoc training for you.

Also, Sunwing is trying to remain profitable. Transat had a few very bad quarters when the 37 showed up, didn't it?. Thank God for stock issuances and borrowing, eh?. An unprofitable business is unsustainable, and unsustainable means lots of pilots in the streets without a job.

Transat has the benefit (or is it curse?) of a multi-type fleet. Sunwing doesn't, and as such needs to have an accordion fleet. You cannot do the line-indoc training of 100+ pilots on 13 aircraft's worth of flights throughout Canada and Europe without having your line crew all sitting at home idle, losing flights to newcomers. I'd like to spend all summer on my deck, but that wouldn't mean a very secure job on the long run...

There is wind of change in the industry. No worry Gilles, there won't be a need for TFWs in the near future. Thank you.

The point is that this airline shouldn't be "trying to remain profitable" at the expense of our profession. Beyond this, Sunwing's persistent misuse of the TFW program over several years has effectively assisted in the theft of market share. I don't know how else to put this. It was not rightly earned. It was stolen and to the detriment of our profession. Begging our workforce and the public to have patience and understanding of the predicament Sunwing is in after all these years is quite a stretch!

This niche was actually never legally there to exploit and should not be enjoyed by Sunwing any longer. This market share could have and still can go to airlines that earn their business within the boundaries of a fair and legal competitive field.

Jobs? Because the market is largely independent of which company accomplishes the flying the number of Canadian pilot jobs generally shouldn't change, except that if the share of the Canadian market that is now served by Sunwing's foreign pilots were to be taken away then there could obviously only be more jobs available to Canadians.

It can hardly be said that Sunwing hasn't had long enough to make this right.

The elements at stake here are unmistakably clear. Stop abuse of the TFW program to protect the health of your industry.

[sluggo]

Everyone's active support in this is invaluable. A good place to start, offering a wealth of info and opportunities to participate, can be found here. Join the group to help us finally put an end to this.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/8158221 ... p_activity

[Jean-Luc Monette]

Hey guys, here's a novel idea...

Instead of fighting over whatever scraps are left, why don't our bosses start charging $20 to $100 per passenger more than they are right now?

Just do a search for yourself and you'll find out that ticket prices are about the same in 2015 than they were in 1977, if not less...

What is wrong with this picture????

Stop trying to justify what you are being submitted to...

[FICU]

What I'd like to know is how much Sunwing is being pulled by TUI to get Euro pilots in Canada and if the Euros are no longer allowed just how long till TUI gets out of it's relationship with Sunwing.