subject: Mechanics Union Fighting Air Canada Maintenance Deal [print this page] Air Canada recently put out a job for open bidding for maintaining the engines on their narrowbody fleet, since their previous maintenance unit, Aveos Fleet Performance Inc, filed for bankruptcy in March. While the airline received numerous bids, its who they planned to award it to that has the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers outraged.
Air Canada announced plans earlier this month to award the contract to Lufthansa Technik, a group based out of Hamburg, Germany. While its not necessarily the company that the IAMAW opposes, its their plans to move all but a dozen jobs out of Canada and into Hamburg that has the group upset. Because Lufthansa plans to move most of the jobs overseas, the IAMAW has opposed the bid and is supporting a competing bid from another German company, MTU Aero Engines Holding AG, which promises to keep the work in Canada.
The number of jobs that will be affected by this contract is at about 150 in Montreal and Vancouver combined. If MTU wins the bid, they will keep about two-thirds of the jobs in Montreal and move the rest to their subsidiary, MTU Maintenance Canada, in Vancouver. MTU is also hoping that by keeping the jobs in Canada theyll be able to win other contracts previously held by Aveos for companies such as Air China.
The chief restructuring officer, Jonathan Solursh, has presented his motion to grant the contract to Lufthansa and its expected to go to a Quebec court soon for approval. The IAMAW is seeking to challenge the decision as well as to push back the court date to prepare its argument. Air Canada has said that they would prefer to keep the work in Canada and that point has been made clear to Solursh by the Air Canada VP of Maintenance and Engineering, Alan Butterfield.
The union has urged the Mr. Solursh to take into account the many aspects of this contract including not only the monetary recovery for the creditors (who are essentially the owners of Aveos), but to also look at the social impact on the families who depend on those jobs in Canada.
