Air Canada to Furlough 1,000 Aircraft Mechanics

“Over one thousand highly-skilled aircraft mechanics at Air Canada will be laid off this April and the company doesn’t give a damn,” said District 140 Regional Assistant Directing General Chairperson Fred Hospes. “The Machinists have been negotiating layoff mitigation decisions with the company for months now, and they agreed to everything, but at the last minute, they tried to blackmail us,” said Hospes. “It’s bad faith bargaining plain and simple.”

Hospes referred to a last-minute refusal by Air Canada to participate in a government-sponsored EI Work-Sharing program unless the union agreed to withdraw from the mitigation programs already negotiated between the parties. “This unethical bargaining tactic was simply requested because Air Canada is not willing to administrate the EI Work-Sharing program,” explained Hospes. “This program would have lessened the blow to our members and the company simply doesn’t care.”

The layoffs will impact Air Canada stations in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montréal.

“We are very concerned for the future of the more than one thousand members and their families who be impacted by this layoff,” said Hospes. “We are currently in consultation with government officials as a result of Air Canada’s unethical bargaining tactic and their decision to flat out reject the Government-sponsored EI Work-Sharing program.”

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