Gotta Love Team Teal……again.

[rookiepilot]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british- ... -1.6158345

Forgive me, but they provide so much ongoing material….must be a dumpster fire in the C suite there….feel bad for the front line staff almost as much as the Pax.

AC must be loving’ it.

[fish4life]

We (AC) are struggling in yyz as well, I can’t remember the last time I left on time out of there. One of those WJ pictures in the story also look like the security line.

[Blueontop]

Marie Antoinette- “let them fly private”

[Inverted2]

Same for AC and WJ. Lay people off and they go elsewhere. Pay near minimum wage and people stay home on the CERB and get a job paying cash. That’s why folks are staying away from these types of jobs. Restaurants included. You don’t know if you’ll have a job next week if some government bureaucrat decides its time for another “lockdown”.

[Dias]

Have they tried turning their phones off

[dhc#]

Same for AC and WJ. Lay people off and they go elsewhere. Pay near minimum wage and people stay home on the CERB and get a job paying cash. That’s why folks are staying away from these types of jobs. Restaurants included. You don’t know if you’ll have a job next week if some government bureaucrat decides its time for another “lockdown”.

Exactly....this may be the future going forward, airlines struggling to find staff willing to work the aviation equivalent of "Mc Jobs"

[Bede]

WJ didn't just lay people off with the intent to rehire them once times got better: they permanently terminated their employment. https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/westjet-to-l ... -1.4998332
My guess is they hoped to rehire them at year 1 pay once things improved. Low and behold, they're no longer interested in low pay in exchange for travel benefits.

WJ management used Covid as cover to enact a drastic restructuring plan. Now they are reaping the what they have sown.

[Rooster69]

wth? Did the CBC get a new news editor?

[Big Pistons Forever]

MBA bean counters know the cost of every employee but no idea of the value of every employee.

[rookiepilot]

MBA bean counters know the cost of every employee but no idea of the value of every employee.

This is but one reason they are stupid and I openly make fun of MBA’s.
Zero big picture skills.
MBA’s have blown up more companies and investment firms than can be counted.

[fish4life]

MBA bean counters know the cost of every employee but no idea of the value of every employee.

Great quote

[bobcaygeon]

WJ didn't just lay people off with the intent to rehire them once times got better: they permanently terminated their employment. https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/westjet-to-l ... -1.4998332
My guess is they hoped to rehire them at year 1 pay once things improved. Low and behold, they're no longer interested in low pay in exchange for travel benefits.

WJ management used Covid as cover to enact a drastic restructuring plan. Now they are reaping the what they have sown.

After a certain amount of time the CLC mandates permanent vs temporary layoff that affects a number of things like severance, etc. If they did the permanent layoff at the beginning of this shit show then it was deliberate. For some new hire staff permanent layoff immediately makes sense otherwise you're just going thru the whole process again in 6 months. Being in HR over the ;ast 18 months has not been a fun experience either.

[JasonE]

My brother flew AC last week. What a shit show. Original departure flight cancelled, return flight changed. Return flight then delayed twice. 2 hours on the phone to get anywhere with customer service, missed connections with an overnight layover....I happen to be driving through MTL to NS and picked him up so he didn't have to wait a day for his connection and shared the drive out.

They claimed the delay was due to weather but WJ took off from the same airport in the same direction....Hmmmm

[PeterParker]

Same for AC and WJ. Lay people off and they go elsewhere. Pay near minimum wage and people stay home on the CERB and get a job paying cash. That’s why folks are staying away from these types of jobs. Restaurants included. You don’t know if you’ll have a job next week if some government bureaucrat decides its time for another “lockdown”.

Oh please, will you stop with the CERB nonsense again. Dunno why that has become such a favourite whipping post for every conservative ever! CERB was barely even a living wage when it began at $2000 and with the feds having reduced it to $1200, it is not even enough to make rent if you live in any major city. I’ve had enough with ignorant people sitting on their high horse and making worthless remarks.

Understand the labour situation in Canada for what it is. Shitty pay for shitty work will not get people back in the door because people have had enough with bullshit. Pay a decent wage and you are bound to find someone to do even the worst jobs out there…

[ayseven]

I think you have a great point. CERB got us through without major economic disaster for MOST. Companies don't know what to do now, but they will figure something out, and people will go back to work for them again (maybe a bit less interest in the aviation industry, as it is being seen for what it is). Non pilots only like it long term because of the travel perks, but of course, at the moment, that is "less favourable", for lack of a better term.

[complexintentions]

Except...these issues are hardly limited to WestJet, Canada, or for that matter, aviation.

It's not hard to shut down an entire industry overnight. Park the planes, everyone stay home. But you can't just re-start it that easily, no matter if the people are still on the payroll or not. Aircraft have to be spooled up, schedules have to be built, people have to be recalled, hired, trained.

The US is a disaster traveling domestically. I was deadheading through ORD and had to overnight there due to a flight cancellation due to shortages of personnel. I spoke with a Spirit manager and he was telling me how they hired 25 ground workers - and only 8 passed the drug test.

And it's not just airlines, it's all the ancillary services. CBSA lineups a mile long into YYZ.

Not much better overseas. UK PM criticizing the Home Office for unacceptably long border waits for arriving travellers as well.

Speaking of Pearson, it's a 4 hour wait just to renew a RAIC. Lineup around the building to get in. Why? Because when you recall tens of thousands of employees all at once and they need security passes, the system just can't cope.

Point is, no need to single out WestJet. It's the same everywhere and will be for some time. But try to keep and mind that it's all a result of UNDER-estimating the demand and resurgence of air travel. Hard to see that as a bad thing, even if painful during the re-open.

[complexintentions]

Same for AC and WJ. Lay people off and they go elsewhere. Pay near minimum wage and people stay home on the CERB and get a job paying cash. That’s why folks are staying away from these types of jobs. Restaurants included. You don’t know if you’ll have a job next week if some government bureaucrat decides its time for another “lockdown”.

Oh please, will you stop with the CERB nonsense again. Dunno why that has become such a favourite whipping post for every conservative ever! CERB was barely even a living wage when it began at $2000 and with the feds having reduced it to $1200, it is not even enough to make rent if you live in any major city. I’ve had enough with ignorant people sitting on their high horse and making worthless remarks.

Understand the labour situation in Canada for what it is. Shitty pay for shitty work will not get people back in the door because people have had enough with bullshit. Pay a decent wage and you are bound to find someone to do even the worst jobs out there…

That doesn't refute that paying people to do nothing is a problem. All you're doing is blaming employers for not paying more than the government is giving for free, with no consideration given to whether that's even fiscally possible for the business. Why is private for-profit enterprise expected to compete for workers with a government with apparently limitless capacity to spend borrowed taxpayer money? And how do they do that, when they require actual productive labour for their wages paid, while government money requires nothing of the kind?

It's stupid to try and make it something to do with conservative or liberal philosophy. It's basic economics. The government money is undeniably distorting the labour market. Claiming that the labour shortage is due to people having "had enough with bullshit" isn't a valid argument, and it ends right at the point where the money runs out. It's interesting how the motivation to gain employment of any kind increases when money stops getting deposited into your account every two weeks. Ask me how I know.

[CpnCrunch]

Same thing happening with AC:

https://globalnews.ca/news/8155136/air- ... hallenges/

Seems to be just a disaster in general at the moment.

[montado]

I anticipate a labour surplus in a month when flu season lockdown begins again. No point in recalling employees just yet. I know few people who booked travel/cruises this winter who were due to make final payments and decided to cancel because the dark shadow looming over this industry.

Lockdowns are imminent about a month after schools open.

[palebird]

The only thing that the whole covid scenario has done is kick the can down the road a little farther. The economic disaster that awaits society is right around the corner. Wait for it.

[ToolShed]

I anticipate a labour surplus in a month when flu season lockdown begins again. No point in recalling employees just yet. I know few people who booked travel/cruises this winter who were due to make final payments and decided to cancel because the dark shadow looming over this industry.

Lockdowns are imminent about a month after schools open.

[complexintentions]

Every generation thinks they're special and the End of Days is imminent.

Living in fear is a choice. A pretty sad one."dark shadow"? Gimme a break. Over here in Europe cruise bookings, holiday flights, vacation packages - all booked solid as far as one can see into the future. Canadians are a fearful and overly conservative bunch.

I dunno, I'm enjoying life a great deal these days. As always, it's what you make of it. One man's economic disaster is another man's opportunity.

[CpnCrunch]

Every generation thinks they're special and the End of Days is imminent.

Living in fear is a choice. A pretty sad one."dark shadow"? Gimme a break. Over here in Europe cruise bookings, holiday flights, vacation packages - all booked solid as far as one can see into the future. Canadians are a fearful and overly conservative bunch.

I dunno, I'm enjoying life a great deal these days. As always, it's what you make of it. One man's economic disaster is another man's opportunity.

Things look pretty similar in Europe:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comm ... 1630766257

You have to get 3 covid tests for the UK (two going, and one coming back). And there's the constantly changing traffic light system in the UK and changing restrictions in EU countries.

International air travel is just a complete disaster at the moment. I've postponed my trip to the UK until March, and hopefully things will be somewhat more normal by then.

[complexintentions]

Oh it's shambolic here in Europe as well, I didn't say it isn't. My point was that the demand is insane even with all the restrictions. A huge amount of people are doing whatever it takes to get to their Greek beach holiday or whatever. And forward bookings reflect increasing, not diminishing demand. As one would expect after being travel restricted so long.

International traffic remains decimated, to be sure. And that goes to my other point, that it takes time to re-start.

But fear? Not so much here.