Roughly 450 CanJet employees will lose their jobs when the discount airline moves to charter-only flights, a Halifax newspaper said Thursday.
Flight crews stand to be hit hard by the reported cutbacks, as 122 flight attendants and 94 pilots will lose their jobs (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press) The Halifax Daily News says it obtained a document from CanJet's owner, IMP Group, that says 376 people in Halifax and another 80 in Toronto will lose their jobs.
The information came from a letter to federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn from IMP senior vice-president Bernard O'Rourke.
Pilots and flight attendants appear to be hardest hit. The letter says 122 flight attendants and 94 pilots will lose their jobs.
The company will provide severance packages and counselling to all affected employees.
On Monday, the airline announced it would be ending its scheduled flights on Sept. 10 to focus on its charter business.
At the time, company officials said some displaced employees would be offered positions in IMP's other aviation businesses.
CanJet to cut 450 jobs
Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, lilfssister, North Shore, I WAS Birddog
Now they're being accussed of labour board violations.....
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national ... r-law.html
CanJet pilots accuse company of labour violations
Last Updated Thu, 07 Sep 2006 20:54:04 EDT
CBC News
Pilots and other employees of CanJet are accusing the airline of violating the Canadian Labour Code in the wake of this week's downsizing announcement.
After parent company IMP Group Ltd. announced that it was getting out of the scheduled airline business on Tuesday, it was learned that over 450 people would lose their jobs.
But representatives with the Air Line Pilots Association met Thursday with the 94 CanJet pilots affected by the announcement to discuss how the process was handled.
Capt. Dan Adamus, the vice-president in Canada for ALPA, claimed that among other violations, the airline failed to give a formal layoff notice to the union.
Instead, he said, the company attempted to negotiate with each employee individually, providing them a document to sign by Sept. 12 which would authorize their resignation and the acceptance of a severance package.
"CanJet management has blatantly disobeyed Canadian labour law," said Adamus.
"Their latest action to seek to coerce pilots into terminating their own employment is merely the most recent violation of the law," he claimed.
The union also claimed the company has asked federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn to give it an exemption from labour laws which would prevent them from being involved in restructuring talks.
It was announced Tuesday that CanJet would restructure as a charter operator, with Sept. 10 the last day of scheduled travel.
The price of fuel and other rising costs such as airport fees were cited as reasons that CanJet couldn't remain competitive in the market. The company has not commented publicly on the union's comments.
An IMP Group letter indicated that 376 people in Halifax and another 80 in Toronto would lose their jobs as a result of the restructuring. In addition to the group of pilots, the list included 122 flight attendants.
After the staff reductions, there are currently 50 employees remaining on the job at Canjet, including 11 pilots.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national ... r-law.html
CanJet pilots accuse company of labour violations
Last Updated Thu, 07 Sep 2006 20:54:04 EDT
CBC News
Pilots and other employees of CanJet are accusing the airline of violating the Canadian Labour Code in the wake of this week's downsizing announcement.
After parent company IMP Group Ltd. announced that it was getting out of the scheduled airline business on Tuesday, it was learned that over 450 people would lose their jobs.
But representatives with the Air Line Pilots Association met Thursday with the 94 CanJet pilots affected by the announcement to discuss how the process was handled.
Capt. Dan Adamus, the vice-president in Canada for ALPA, claimed that among other violations, the airline failed to give a formal layoff notice to the union.
Instead, he said, the company attempted to negotiate with each employee individually, providing them a document to sign by Sept. 12 which would authorize their resignation and the acceptance of a severance package.
"CanJet management has blatantly disobeyed Canadian labour law," said Adamus.
"Their latest action to seek to coerce pilots into terminating their own employment is merely the most recent violation of the law," he claimed.
The union also claimed the company has asked federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn to give it an exemption from labour laws which would prevent them from being involved in restructuring talks.
It was announced Tuesday that CanJet would restructure as a charter operator, with Sept. 10 the last day of scheduled travel.
The price of fuel and other rising costs such as airport fees were cited as reasons that CanJet couldn't remain competitive in the market. The company has not commented publicly on the union's comments.
An IMP Group letter indicated that 376 people in Halifax and another 80 in Toronto would lose their jobs as a result of the restructuring. In addition to the group of pilots, the list included 122 flight attendants.
After the staff reductions, there are currently 50 employees remaining on the job at Canjet, including 11 pilots.
Here is another article from the Chronicle Herald for those who are interested:
Union to pilots: Sign nothing
CanJet trying to sidestep labour code, association says
By JENNIFER STEWART and BRUCE ERSKINE Staff Reporters
The union representing pilots with CanJet Airlines is advising its members not to sign release papers distributed to employees this week after the airline’s announcement that it will be grounding its scheduled flights after Sunday.
Scott Bringloe, chairman of the Halifax wing of the Air Line Pilots Association, International, and Dan Adamus, vice-president of the Canadian board of the 62,000-member union, met with pilots Thursday at a hotel near Halifax International Airport.
Mr. Bringloe said they discussed the employees’ severance packages and the company’s failure to address union representatives.
The pilots "obviously have a lot of questions," Mr. Bringloe said after the meeting. "It’s been a rough couple of days for everybody."
Ken Rowe, chairman of IMP Group Inc., announced Tuesday that CanJet of Halifax, an IMP subsidiary, was cancelling its scheduled flights to 14 Canadian and U.S. locations, including New York and Florida, effective Sunday.
The news means more than 400 employees in Halifax and Toronto will be laid off.
Mr. Bringloe said the union has advised members to sign nothing until its lawyers have had a chance to review the material. The company has given employees until Sept. 12 to sign the papers.
"It’s quite a long document and there are options included in there," he said. "The release form that’s attached to that, we’re not sure of the implications of that."
Another hot topic Thursday was IMP’s request that Ottawa waive provisions of the Canada Labour Code.
Mr. Bringloe said the company particularly wants to sidestep Section 212, which deals with the dismissal of large groups of employees. He said the union is extremely worried about what will happen if IMP’s request is granted.
"The waiver basically gets them the ability to go ahead and do what they’re doing now — issue the severance packages and sign the release forms — but one of the provisions is that a restructuring committee has to be struck," which helps minimize the impact of a dismissal on employees, he said.
"Right now there is no restructuring committee, and we don’t have a say on what happens next."
IMP representatives said Thursday that the company is not commenting.
The waiver request was in a letter that IMP sent to Federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn on Tuesday, at about the same time a news release was issued about the airline’s decision.
The IMP letter, which blamed CanJet’s problems in part on increased competition in the Atlantic market from Air Canada and WestJet, also spelled out layoff numbers that paralleled previously reported estimates — 376 full- and part-time employees in Halifax and 80 full- and part-time people in Toronto.
Paulette Sadoway, a local representative with the three-million-member Canadian Labour Congress, had not seen the IMP letter, but said she has never heard of a similar labour code waiver.
She said the code is designed to protect workers in areas such as wages, hours and termination notice.
"In general, if they’re asking to waive legislation that protects workers, that puts (workers) in jeopardy," Ms. Sadoway said.
Mr. Adamus was equally concerned, saying the union has had difficulties with the company for a few months.
"Ever since (the association) was certified as the bargaining agent for the CanJet pilots on June 26, the company has been refusing to accept it," he said.
Pete Janhunen, the American spokesman for the union, expressed similar suspicions earlier this week, suggesting that the CanJet announcement was tied to the recent unionization of the airline’s pilots. The association has filed a complaint of unfair labour practices against CanJet for its refusal to negotiate a contract with the pilots.
Some flight attendants represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which was about to begin contract talks with CanJet, also said unionization played a role in the cancellation of the flights. But Marilyne White of CUPE, who met with company representatives Thursday in Halifax, disagreed.
Flight attendants who contacted this newspaper anonymously this week said they had not been offered other positions with IMP, as Mr. Rowe’s initial announcement had suggested.
Union to pilots: Sign nothing
CanJet trying to sidestep labour code, association says
By JENNIFER STEWART and BRUCE ERSKINE Staff Reporters
The union representing pilots with CanJet Airlines is advising its members not to sign release papers distributed to employees this week after the airline’s announcement that it will be grounding its scheduled flights after Sunday.
Scott Bringloe, chairman of the Halifax wing of the Air Line Pilots Association, International, and Dan Adamus, vice-president of the Canadian board of the 62,000-member union, met with pilots Thursday at a hotel near Halifax International Airport.
Mr. Bringloe said they discussed the employees’ severance packages and the company’s failure to address union representatives.
The pilots "obviously have a lot of questions," Mr. Bringloe said after the meeting. "It’s been a rough couple of days for everybody."
Ken Rowe, chairman of IMP Group Inc., announced Tuesday that CanJet of Halifax, an IMP subsidiary, was cancelling its scheduled flights to 14 Canadian and U.S. locations, including New York and Florida, effective Sunday.
The news means more than 400 employees in Halifax and Toronto will be laid off.
Mr. Bringloe said the union has advised members to sign nothing until its lawyers have had a chance to review the material. The company has given employees until Sept. 12 to sign the papers.
"It’s quite a long document and there are options included in there," he said. "The release form that’s attached to that, we’re not sure of the implications of that."
Another hot topic Thursday was IMP’s request that Ottawa waive provisions of the Canada Labour Code.
Mr. Bringloe said the company particularly wants to sidestep Section 212, which deals with the dismissal of large groups of employees. He said the union is extremely worried about what will happen if IMP’s request is granted.
"The waiver basically gets them the ability to go ahead and do what they’re doing now — issue the severance packages and sign the release forms — but one of the provisions is that a restructuring committee has to be struck," which helps minimize the impact of a dismissal on employees, he said.
"Right now there is no restructuring committee, and we don’t have a say on what happens next."
IMP representatives said Thursday that the company is not commenting.
The waiver request was in a letter that IMP sent to Federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn on Tuesday, at about the same time a news release was issued about the airline’s decision.
The IMP letter, which blamed CanJet’s problems in part on increased competition in the Atlantic market from Air Canada and WestJet, also spelled out layoff numbers that paralleled previously reported estimates — 376 full- and part-time employees in Halifax and 80 full- and part-time people in Toronto.
Paulette Sadoway, a local representative with the three-million-member Canadian Labour Congress, had not seen the IMP letter, but said she has never heard of a similar labour code waiver.
She said the code is designed to protect workers in areas such as wages, hours and termination notice.
"In general, if they’re asking to waive legislation that protects workers, that puts (workers) in jeopardy," Ms. Sadoway said.
Mr. Adamus was equally concerned, saying the union has had difficulties with the company for a few months.
"Ever since (the association) was certified as the bargaining agent for the CanJet pilots on June 26, the company has been refusing to accept it," he said.
Pete Janhunen, the American spokesman for the union, expressed similar suspicions earlier this week, suggesting that the CanJet announcement was tied to the recent unionization of the airline’s pilots. The association has filed a complaint of unfair labour practices against CanJet for its refusal to negotiate a contract with the pilots.
Some flight attendants represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which was about to begin contract talks with CanJet, also said unionization played a role in the cancellation of the flights. But Marilyne White of CUPE, who met with company representatives Thursday in Halifax, disagreed.
Flight attendants who contacted this newspaper anonymously this week said they had not been offered other positions with IMP, as Mr. Rowe’s initial announcement had suggested.
