Air Canada Pilots Stage Illegal Walkout

[DearSummer]

Air Canada cancels flights, issues travel alert
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/air-canada-cancels-flights-issues-travel-alert/article2401035/


Air Canada is warning travellers of flight disruptions, saying some pilots are staging an illegal walkout.

There were cancellations of roughly 30 departures and 30 arrivals on Friday morning at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, mostly affecting Air Canada, said airport spokesman Scott Armstrong.

“Due to illegal job action by some Air Canada pilots, Air Canada is experiencing delays and some cancellations of flights today. Air Canada is making every effort to re-accommodate affected customers,” the carrier said. “Customers are requested to check the status of their flight at aircanada.com before leaving for the airport.”

Friday’s disruptions follow last month’s chaos, when ground crew went on a 14-hour wildcat strike. On March 23, Air Canada delayed 200 flights and cancelled another 210 trips in moves that disrupted one-third of the airline's network across North America. An estimated 24,000 customers got caught in the snarls, or nearly one-quarter of Air Canada's daily traffic.

More trouble for AC passengers. Pretty risky to book any flights with them for the foreseeable future.

[r1lee]

i would just shut this baby down. It's time we let AC go the way of the Dodo bird.
The company is in debt and there looks to be no way out of it.

AC will never be profitable beacuse they are the National carrier. Employees want what they think they deserve. You can't be a National Carrier losing money on crap routes and pay your Employee's the top wage.

Financial not feasible.

This is a gov't and union problem. Two headed snake pulling the airline in two different directions.

[mcplar]

More trouble for AC passengers. Pretty risky to book any flights with them for the foreseeable future.

Because of the union right???? :rolleyes:

[squagles]

Like I said in your last anti-union thread. The choice isn't between unions and no-unions; It's between stable unions and radical labour action.

[DearSummer]

Because of the union right???? :rolleyes:

No the union actually told the pilots not to do this.

[DearSummer]

Like I said in your last anti-union thread. The choice isn't between unions and no-unions; It's between stable unions and radical labour action.

I think it's fine to have unions. However, employees should not be forced to join them.

[manmanny]

I am sure Union leaders publication(Toronto Star) will have a new pics of passenger spitting on Union member.

[r1lee]

I am sure Union leaders publication(Toronto Star) will have a new pics of passenger spitting on Union member.

didn't they call in sick? so no one's at work. Kinda of hard to spit on them when they aren't there!

[squagles]

I think it's fine to have unions. However, employees should not be forced to join them.

Like I said in your other anti-union threads, that's a pointless distinction to make because, ultimately, it's management that decides to have a closed shop in exchange for labour peace. If the two parties agree to a certain policy, I don't really see what business it is of yours if the agreement puts requirements on new employees.

[kennyhohoho]

Time to rename the Air Canada Centre!

How about the Research in Motion Centre? Oh wait... :lol:

[Rainne]

The situation is pretty bad.

National air carrier not competitive because of high costs (union) + poor economy -> goes in debt/report losses every year -> unions want their guaranteed raises, etc. -> Air Canada says we cannot afford it -> union knows the government will bail them out, goes on strike (illegally LOL)

It's too bad Air Canada can't flip the middle finger and Caterpillar/Walmart'd these guys.

[BananaHunter]

I sense another bankruptcy coming soon. They've been making losses for a while. With all the negative publicity, there's no where to go but downhill.

I don't get why these people feel they can go on strike. Mass calling in sick is the same as a strike. It's obviously staged. They are just screwing themselves. Now no one wants to take AC because of risk of random strike. With the company making even more losses, how do they justify getting higher salary? Idiots.

[stealth]

Time to rename the Air Canada Centre!

How about the Research in Motion Centre? Oh wait... :lol:

On the contrary a perennial loser with a bunch of overpaid underperformers deserves to play in an arena named after another propped up loser.

[r1lee]

guys, the gov't is also at fault.

There is no reason why the gov't would have to legislate the employee's back to work. AC is a private corporation and should be able to negotiate a contract with their Unions. The problem is that the government stepped in and did not allow the negotiations to happen.

yes employee's want their raise's, we all do. But dialogue cannot happen (meaningful dialogue atleast) if they aren't allowed to have it. If the employee's still feel they need a raise after reviewing the bleeding at AC, then yes the Union would be to blame for the collapse of AC. But IMO, we cannot blame them at this point.

Aside from the illegal walk off, but i would be pissed too.

[squagles]

Since Rogers owns it now, the Fido Arena would be pretty good. It's already a doghouse.

[DearSummer]

Like I said in your other anti-union threads, that's a pointless distinction to make because, ultimately, it's management that decides to have a closed shop in exchange for labour peace. If the two parties agree to a certain policy, I don't really see what business it is of yours if the agreement puts requirements on new employees.

Even non-union employees have to pay union fees. Kind of a false choice, isn't it?

[NorthYorker]

I think it's fine to have unions. However, employees should not be forced to join them.You do realize that Right-to-work is a blatant violation of free market rules, prohibiting certain kinds of free agreements between employers and employees, don't you?

[particleman]

I don't care what happens to Air Canada, as long as more tax dollars aren't used to bail it out when it inevitably goes bankrupt. At this point the government should just lay it's hands off and forget about keeping a national carrier. Free Air Canada of it's mandatory routes, open domestic flights to foreign competition, and let the union and management run the company into ground.

Those routes where there is actually demand will remain because they are profitable, and those remote routes that are unprofitable will either see their prices jacked or dropped altogether. Whatever happens, I just don't want to see tax payer dollars going to save this mess.

[squagles]

Even non-union employees have to pay union fees. Kind of a false choice, isn't it?

Management agreed that union membership, or, at least, union representation in collective bargaining, were conditions of employment.

[manmanny]

"Fitzpatrick could not comment on whether the company would take disciplinary action against the pilots."

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20120413/air-canada-pilots-120413/#ixzz1rwEKOrZQ


"The Air Canada Pilots Association has urged pilots not to participate in the "sick-out" and to go to work as usual on Friday."

In a letter sent to members, Capt. Jean-Marc Belanger, chairman of the Air Canada Pilots Association, said he had received word that some members were planning an illegal work disruption by booking off sick when they were fit to fly.

"We have no way of verifying these allegations. We do know, however, that if the allegations are accurate, they have not been initiated or sanctioned by ACPA," Belanger wrote.



Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20120413/air-canada-pilots-120413/#ixzz1rwDwS5B3

[DearSummer]

I don't care what happens to Air Canada, as long as more tax dollars aren't used to bail it out when it inevitably goes bankrupt. At this point the government should just lay it's hands off and forget about keeping a national carrier. Free Air Canada of it's mandatory routes, open domestic flights to foreign competition, and let the union and management run the company into ground.

Those routes where there is actually demand will remain because they are profitable, and those remote routes that are unprofitable will either see their prices jacked or dropped altogether. Whatever happens, I just don't want to see tax payer dollars going to save this mess.

Agree 100%.

[patpond]

Even non-union employees have to pay union fees. Kind of a false choice, isn't it?

Care to elaborate?

[manmanny]

http://i42.tinypic.com/2e1t6v4.jpg

[sandikosh]

Air Canada should do the pilots what Reagan did the controllers almost 3 decades ago. Fire them and hire new ones!

[plucky duck]

Without skipping a beat every year when I fly, seems to be always right around the corner when I am about to fly there's negative news coming out about Air Canada. It's like I'm playing russian roulette with myself.

[Grassgreen]

They sure aren't doing themselves any long term favors. What customer in their right mind would book a flight with AC following this garbage?

What a joke.

[dealman5]

There is already a thread started on the travel forum...The pilots should be calling EAP and go on extended stress leave.

[stuntman]

I think it's fine to have unions. However, employees should not be forced to join them.

It would be nice if that concept could work, however, with unions it is all or nothing (so all mechanics or none, all pilots or none) because there is a real risk of the unionized employees being discriminated against. In other words it helps prevent aggressive union breaking action. There is always the opportunity to be a strike breaker or vote against motions though so it works out.

[dealman5]

Even non-union employees have to pay union fees. Kind of a false choice, isn't it?

??????

[FunSave22]

Air Canada should do the pilots what Reagan did the controllers almost 3 decades ago. Fire them and hire new ones!
Let's see how this would work.



First of all, Air Canada in a publicly traded company. Meaning it is legally required to maximize shareholder value.

So Air Canada fires all of their pilots. What happens next?




Well, they'll have to hire new pilots. Air Canada currently has around 3000 pilots. So how long do you think it'll take to hire 3000 new pilots? At least a couple of months I guess.

Next, all of these new pilots will have to be trained on the specific airplane model they will flying. Just being a pilot isn't enough, you need current training on the specific model.
And of course trying to train 3000 pilots at once is going to create a bit of backlog. It's not like Air Canada has a massive number of flight simulators and instructors.

And then, they are also going to have to go through security checks and background check, etc... I wonder how long running security and background checks on 3000 pilots will take?



And all of this time Air Canada is bringing in no revenue. But they still have to make all of their regular payments on their debt and leased planes, pay for storage on the planes, and pay for mechanics to keep the planes in decent shape. And they probably have to keep on paying their gate fees at airports around the world, in order to not lose those gates.




This sounds like it would do wonders to maximize shareholder value. That is if the shareholders value holding stock in a bankrupt company...

The brilliance of some people on this forum keeps on astounding me.

[Toukolou]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the federal govn't is partially to blame for the mess Air Canada is in. Either lower landing taxes/fees on all major airports in the country and let them be somewhat competitive, or just let them die already.

When 80% of the population live within an hour or two of the border, and we can conveniently fly for hundreds of dollars less south of the border, I can understand why AC is having such a hard time.


How many times has AC been on the ropes only to get bailed out or had the rules changed to prop them up till the next time.

Btw, I'd hate to see them go, I've always had pretty good experiences flying AC.