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CHC UK redundancies/strike action/FSP
Extract from BBC website (BBC NEWS | Scotland | North East/N Isles | Helicopter firm jobs being lost)
Up to 60 jobs are set to go at an Aberdeen helicopter maintenance firm. Heli-One, a subsidiary of CHC Helicopter Corporation, has been hit by an "industry-wide downturn in activity". The company said it regretted that between 50 and 60 jobs would be affected. The news comes just days after job warnings from industry body Oil and Gas UK and the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce oil and gas survey. CHC and Heli-one said in a statement: "CHC can confirm that its repair and overhaul division Heli-One commenced a consultation process over proposed redundancies at its base maintenance facility in Aberdeen. "CHC has instigated the process in response to the industry-wide downturn in activity. The proposed redundancies, involving between 50 and 60 members of staff, would reduce personnel levels at the base to the level required for forecast future activity. "CHC very much regrets having to take this measure but it is unavoidable in the present economic climate. The company will now liaise closely with union representatives during the consultation period." The company said it planned to continue to employ about 25 people to provide logistics and design support. |
every cloud has a silver lining.......
Hopefully improve availability of 'onshore' supply of engineers for corporate machines.... |
How has the flying arm of CHC been affected in ABZ ? Will these engineers be taken on by the Line or will they go to Heli-One in Norway ?
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I heard secondhand at the weekend that contract pilots (i.e. not full time pilots) in Aberdeen were being told that their services were no longer required.
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Heli-One closing in March I hear....along with the operation in Hurst, Texas.
That is eighty employees in Aberdeen and one hundred and ten employees in Hurst to be looking for work. |
If they are retaining only support staff then where is CHC Scotias heavy maintenance going to be done?Sounds like British jobs being exported to Norway.
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Every time there is a slight downturn who do they exterminate...the only employees capable of generating real income (Pilots and Engineers). Just for once I would like to see a NS Company make a few shiny arses take it in the back passage instead of the bread-winners.
I can confirm that CHC ABZ are not renewing the monthly contracts for the Contractors on one of the fleets at the moment. Some really good (and I hope they forgive me for saying so - V. SENIOR) gentlemen available for work. Anybody needing v. qualified v. experienced offshore drivers get in touch with CHC ABZ (Or PM me). |
Is there to be anymore slicing and dicing??????:eek: By the New owners.
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This is an absolute bloody disgrace, and appalling way of doing business for all except a few higher level management. This is short term money savings, which is really only going to divert costs to somewhere else. In the short they will save some money on paper in wages. However the redundancy settlement payments will not be cheap if the union does its job properly, and chances are in a years time they will need more engineers again, and start re-hiring and re-training, therefore more cost than they saved. I think we have been here before in the not too distant past. Are lessons really never learnt? Would it not be better to offer to hold people on reduced time until things pick up? Smacks of another FR attempt to boost short term profit margins on paper prior to a quick sell off.
My deepest sympathies to those being royally shafted. |
CHC and Heli-one in Europe has a much bigger Norwegian influence at engineering management level so it goes without saying that the redundancies will be in the UK and not Norway. It means that the maintenance work which would have been done in the UK will now be shipped over to Norway even although their costs are higher.
The UK based engineers working for CHC should be considering industrial action in support of their colleagues in Heli-one. CHC know that these redundancies would not be accepted in Norway so they are taking the easy way out by sacking UK workers. The CHC flying operation in the UK is already very poorly supported by Heli-one due to lack of spares etc and it is going to get worse if this is allowed to go ahead as even more spares are moved from UK to Norway. |
I was just going to ask how many Norwegians would be facing the boot, as I thought get rid of the easy UK boys and make sure the Norwegians are ok.
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Work to Norway
Coalface is quite right, the heavy maintenance work will go to Norway or maybe even Canada, as it has in the past, Boundary Bay has to do something. CHC Scotia is one of the biggest cash generators in the Group but as already has been said, UK workers are easier to get rid of than Norwegian. It has been ever thus since the merger back in 1999.
Some of the Heli-One UK Engineers will readily get work in Stavanger, as Contractors, adding more costs for CHC. But we can't have "Social Dumping" in Norway, can we ? |
Are the sackings just in Scotia or elsewhere in the CHC system too. SASless mentions H1 in Hurst Texas. Anything in den Helder or the Canadian operations - or whatever they call Vancouver now.
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These sackings/redundancies have nothing to do with CHC Scotia, Heli-One ABZ is a seperate company. But will the axe be swinging at Scotia as well, I have heard rumours of contract engineers/pilots already been shown the door ?
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Same knee jerk reaction we got last time there was a down turn in work, 18 months down the line when the oil companies are crying out for machines and flights because they have spooled up the drilling programme there will be a huge shortage. The oil companies complain because they do not seem to realise how long it take to train up engineers and pilots. We are already seeing age balloons that are going to burst because of similar decisions made over the decades.
good luck to all those affected...... |
My advice to any staff facing redundancy would be to contact Eurocopter UK. Rumour has it that they are desperately short of Engineers, yet still have expansion plans for the area.
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North Sea Tiger said;
These sackings/redundancies have nothing to do with CHC Scotia, Heli-One ABZ is a seperate company |
Contractors
I feel for anybody facing redundancy at the moment and it is sad that the short term knee jerk reaction always prevails. Especially when, as has already been said, it's the people who do the core work that get the boot.
However, I have worked alongside many contractors on a higher monthly wage because they are a contractor and because they want to remain so. Some have turned down permanent contracts because of the better flat rate they get as a contractor and because of the 'choice' this gives them to do what they will with their money. In the helicopter world it is often the case that these contract workers are also those who opt out of joining a union. This combination makes it too easy for large companies to 'shed costs' as they put it and get rid of people quickly. That is the nature of contract work. Hopefully when we come out of this economic dip we are in, people who took a hit as a contractor will seek permanent contracts and union membership, which will only strengthen our industry in the long term. Hompy |
ECUK do need extra engineers but as of a month ago they are on a hire-freeze and in the mean time they rely heavily on the worker bees good will to work every hour god sends them if it wasn't for them Oxford would have folded a long time ago.
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"It's got everything to do with CHC Scotia because CHC Scotia is Heli-one (Aberdeen)'s only customer. There can only be one reason for lack of maintenance work and that is a downturn in the flying activities."
Not true, they have had several Norwegian machines and aircraft bound for different locations in there recently so to say CHC Scotia is there only customer is wrong , of there 2-3 lines only 1 was Scotia. Also it will be Heli-one who decided to close down ABZ not CHC Scotia, at the end of the day Scotia will have a/c requiring G-Checks etc, so where are they going to go ? My Moneys on Heli-One Stavangar . |
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