Aveos suspends operations

[a330pilotcanada]

Good Evening All:

This just in from CBC:

Air Canada maintenance firm shuts down plants
Union fears Aveos job losses in Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver
CBC News Posted: Mar 18, 2012 7:05 PM CT Last Updated: Mar 18, 2012 9:32 PM CT Read 114 comments114
A notice posted at Aveos Fleet Performance Inc.'s Winnipeg plant on Sunday says the company has 'ceased the operation of airframe maintenance.' (Justin Fraser/CBC)



Lorne Hammerberg on Aveos lockout5:38

Aveos Fleet Performance Inc., a private company that maintains many of Air Canada's aircraft, shut down its plants on Sunday, locking out at least 2,400 workers and telling them not to return to work.

Approximately 1,800 of the affected employees are based in Montreal, while 350 are in Winnipeg and 250 are in Vancouver, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

"The maintenance component that supplies work to the Air Canada fleet has effectively ceased operations," Lorne Hammerberg, the union's local president in Winnipeg, told CBC News.

"The base manager and his senior managers came down today to the hangars, told the guys they were no longer in operation and to remove themselves from the premises."

Aveos posted a sign at its Winnipeg plant late Sunday afternoon, stating, "We regret to advise you that effective immediately, Aveos Fleet Performance Inc. has ceased the operation of airframe maintenance."

Union officials in Vancouver confirmed that employees at the Aveos plant there had been told to go home and leave all their equipment and personal items behind.

Aveos officials did not return calls by CBC News for comment on Sunday.

Some work subcontracted
Hammerberg said he fears total job losses at Aveos, since there has been no talk of restructuring the company to date.

Aveos started out in 1937 as Air Canada Technical Services, the airline's in-house maintenance division. It became an independent company an October 2007 and was renamed Aveos the following year, according to its website.

Hammerberg said the Aveos plant in Winnipeg has maintained Air Canada's Airbus and Embraer fleet.

"Between ourselves, Montreal and Vancouver, we have the expertise to do any type of aircraft," he said.

Air Canada is the firm's largest customer — it provides about 90 per cent of its maintenance overhaul work. Its exclusive contract expires in June 2013 and Air Canada has issued a request for proposals for future contracts.

'Absolutely no joke'
Hammerberg said union officials had heard there were "some financial issues with the company" over the past couple of weeks, but they had no idea a total shutdown was in the works.

"At first, I thought it was a joke because, of course, management has not informed anybody in the union that this was happening," he said. "I started making phone calls, and it was absolutely no joke."

The union does not know what the latest development could mean for Air Canada's maintenance program, he added.

The union, which represents aircraft machinists, mechanics, baggage handlers and ramp personnel, has feared for the future of Aveos after Air Canada moved to subcontract some of its work offshore.

Air Canada has moved maintenance of landing gear and engines out of Aveos's facilities and is subcontracting work to other maintenance providers, including in China. The airline has also delayed some work until the fall.

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick told CBC News the airline did not have much to say about the situation at Aveos.

"We do not comment about speculation concerning our suppliers," Fitzpatrick said in an email late Sunday.

Fitzpatrick said the bulk of Air Canada's scheduled heavy maintenance is done by Aveos, but added the airline has "always obtained additional services from other [maintenance, repair and operations] providers."

[GMC1500]

What a shame. I wasn't understanding before what Aveos was, but now I get it. AC will farm out as much of its labour as it possibly can to the cheapest option, just as Qantas has. Things will get worse, not better.

[a330pilotcanada]

Good Morning All:

A update from the Canada Press:

Air Canada may have broken laws in Aveos closure
Federal government to seek legal opinion on decision that left 2,600 jobless
The Canadian Press
Posted: Mar 27, 2012 8:36 PM ET
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2012 9:30 PM ET
Read 44 comments44 (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/03/27/montreal-avios-legal-opinion.html#socialcomments)
Out of work Aveos employees protested on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday. (CBC)
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The federal government says it will seek a legal opinion on whether Air Canada broke any obligations that may have led to the closure of an aircraft maintenance firm, leaving 2,600 jobless.
A House of Commons committee was convened on Tuesday to look into the closure and whether it means the former Crown corporation is in violation of the Air Canada Participation Act, the legislation introduced when it became a private company.
But the government added a considerable caveat: there won't be any bailout for Aveos Fleet Performance Inc. Federal Transport Minister Denis Lebel said what happened between Aveos and Air Canada was a private business matter.
"It's a business decision involving two companies. We're not contemplating a bailout for Aveos or Air Canada," Lebel said.
He said Air Canada must abide by the laws that allowed it to become a private company in 1988, then quickly added that the law was "vague."
Aveos employees contend that legislation compels the airline to keep maintenance jobs in Canada, but the law doesn't say who has to do the work.
Air Canada says that rule no longer applies since Aveos, its former maintenance division, became a private company in 2007.
The airline insists it is in full compliance with all aspects of the Air Canada Public Participation Act by maintaining overhaul centres in Winnipeg, Montreal and Mississauga, Ont.
Lebel said that Aveos's decision to shut its doors was a business decision.
"It's not a question for the government," Lebel said. "I can't go and manage the company for them."
Lebel said that a parliamentary committee will be tasked with determining whether Air Canada broke any rules.
"Air Canada must respect its privatization agreement and we'll assure this," Lebel said. "The law is the law. The law on Air Canada requires that we maintain the [maintenance] centres, and we will comply with the law."
Lebel pointed out that other companies in Canada could handle airline maintenance.
Hundreds of ex-Aveos employees protested on Parliament Hill on Tuesday for a second day, with many of them accusing the Conservatives of inaction in the wake of widespread job losses.
On Monday, union representatives met with Lebel without much to report, as the minister referred the issue to a parliamentary committee for study.
"The jobs are technical jobs ... and we want to keep these jobs in North America, and in Canada at minimum," said Nick Boucher, a Montreal-based worker who lost his job.
A union spokesman, Serge Gelinas, offered another solution to the job losses: "We're asking Air Canada to take back its former employees."
Aveos was once Air Canada's technical services division but was later spun off as a separate company. The airline was Aveos's largest customer, providing about 90 per cent of its maintenance overhaul work.
Aveos shut its doors last week.
Quebec Premier Jean Charest has threatened to sue the federal government and Air Canada. Manitoba has also threatened to sue.