Fueling

[deicer]

http://iamaw2323.ca/2015/05/08/air-canada-dismantles-fuel-consortium-hundreds-of-airport-fuelers-lose-jobs/


Air Canada Dismantles Fuel Consortium -Hundreds of Airport Fuelers Lose Jobs!

By Communicator, on May 8th, 2015


Air Canada Dismantles Fuel Consortium

Hundreds of Airport Fuelers Lose Jobs!

Thursday May 7, 2015

For Immediate Release

Toronto, On -Air Canada walked away from long-term agreements with aviation fuel providers in Montreal and Toronto this week. When it was joined by West Jet, Air Transat and others, it meant the dismantling of the Canadian airline fuel consortium and the loss of hundreds of good paying jobs.

“Consolidated Aviation Fueling informed me, that three years ago Air Canada signed a ten year commitment, subject to senior Air Canada management approval, that Consolidated Aviation Fueling, would provide its fuel in Montreal,” said IAM District Lodge 140 General Chairperson George Kuehnl. “Wednesday afternoon, representatives of Allied Aviation, Consolidated’s parent, informed members of IAM Local Lodge 2301 that 90 per cent of their jobs would be terminated July 1st because Air Canada was switching to a non-union supplier – Swissport. Air Canada broke its promises and walked away.”

Air Canada will exercise a similar move today in Toronto where it is responsible for more than 60 per cent of the fuel volume at Pearson International Airport. “The members of IAM Local Lodge 2413 are going to be furious because Air Canada led us to believe they were committed to Consolidated as its sole fuel provider,” explained an irate Michael Corrado, IAM District Lodge 140 General Chairperson.

The Montreal-Toronto fuel consortium is the oldest and most experienced in the country supplying Canada’s major airlines for more than fifty years of first class services. “We have members with as much as 47 years experience and now they’re faced with a job that has no pension, no benefits and near minimum wage,” said Corrado. “Why do 300 people have to lose their jobs just so an airline can squeeze another dollar into their pockets, it’s another example of corporate greed.”

The IAM caught wind of Air Canada’s intentions as far back as mid-October 2014. In the first week of December the IAM filed a Common Employer Application and Unfair Labour Practices with the Canada Industrial Relations Board. “The IAM also asked the board for an interim order requesting the prevention of any tendering of contracts which would affect members’ jobs, until the board has reviewed the matter,” said IAM District Lodge 140 President and Directing General Chairperson Fred Hospes. “Maybe this will light a fire under the board to get moving on these applications.”

I thought this issue deserved a separate topic rather than being tagged onto the one about Malaysia so...... Marshall

[DEFCON]

Hearing never ending anti-labour stories is becoming quite depressing.

[boestar]

" subject to senior Air Canada management approval, "

Was it ever approved?

If the contract was never approved then there is no contract and AC is within its rights to seek a different supplier.

[deicer]

Hmmmm.....

Not approving something for THREE years?

Would it hold up in court that it wasn't 'approved'?

[Guest]

Just a guess, but I suspect the contract between Air Canada and Consolidated had some form of a termination clause as most contracts do.

[J.O.]

Based on Consolidated's absenteeism record in YYZ during the February cold snap, I'm not surprised if AC would have used a performance clause to sever the agreement. Some flights waited over three hours for fuel to the point where an entire crew was burned and had to be replaced.

[deicer]

So now you hire at one third the wage, and expect better service?

[cavok]

So how does this work? If the fuel facilities are owned by a consortium, are there now simply two service providers drawing fuel from the same in ground hydrant system?

[Guest]

So now you hire at one third the wage, and expect better service?

Does anyone have "real" numbers on how much each fueler pays their workers?

[Guest]

I thought this issue deserved a separate topic rather than being tagged onto the one about Malaysia so.......

[Guest]

I note the article also names WestJet , AirTransat etc , did they also use the former fueler or were they always fueled by Swissport or is this a new venture for Swissport? Reason I ask is that their corporate page only shows that they provide fueling service at YVR.

http://www.swissport.com/index.php?id=4&level=country&continentId=7&countryId=34

[inchman]

I note the article also names WestJet , AirTransat etc , did they also use the former fueler or were they always fueled by Swissport or is this a new venture for Swissport? Reason I ask is that their corporate page only shows that they provide fueling service at YVR.

http://www.swissport.com/index.php?id=4&level=country&continentId=7&countryId=34

First para indicates that WJ and AT were the final straw, but AC, of course, takes the negative publicity.

[J.O.]

Consolidated has been the only game in town for airline refuelling at the terminal in YYZ. Seems that is about to change.

[Fido]

The airline consortium owns the trucks, the underground hydrants, the storage tanks.

Consolidated only provide the manpower and manage the facility.

[DEFCON]

I'm told that the $24 an hour fuel man has been offered a job with the 'new' employer for $16. It all adds up to more destroyed lives, but hey, the shareholder ought to appreciate the move.

[inchman]

I'm not going to be popular, but $50,000 per year plus benefits and pension is pretty dear for a job that takes no prior experience and about two days of on-the-job training. There are literally millions of workers across the country that make WAY less and work harder in worse conditions. While it's not a job that I would want, especially at + or -30, it isn't particularly difficult, nor does it take anything more than a high school education, if that. ...

I would suggest that our ramp guys work harder in the same conditions for less money. I don't think it is unreasonable for companies to expect to pay near what they pay their own employees for outsourced service. Otherwise, why would you outsource?

An example of a too-successful union and a management that thought that their costs were just "pass through" and ignored the obvious long term downside.

Yes, it is unfortunate that these guys will take a pay cut if they can't find another no-skills-required job at the same compensation level (and they won't), but very skilled workers at AC took one of almost the same proportions about 12 years ago. That guy with 47 years of service has been living a pretty good life considering what his skills would earn him in another job, or even what he thought he would earn in the long term when he got hired. And any pension that he has earned isn't going to dissolve.

Like a good night at the blackjack table.... it's been a good run.

[deicer]

So if it's a job you don't want, why do you denigrate it?

Maybe you don't have to be 'educated' to pump fuel, or to hump bags, but in the end, you work a lot more hours for your money, and you pay with your body working in the conditions outside.

If you're looking for savings, maybe all the middle management that isn't performing should be cut. What value added are they giving? Everybody touts the CEO, so ya, maybe he's worth it, but there is a lot of dead wood below him that is drawing a paycheque out of sync with their skill set.

Or even the pilot group. Aren't most 'incidents' these days because of pilot error? Don't have to think too hard to come up with examples of where they incurred more costs that what their quality wage is worth.

All this leads to is throwing rocks and stepping on heads to justify that ones existence is more justifiable than someone else's.

We all have to work together to make this industry tick. One department won't happen without the others. It should be a case of supporting each other to ensure a quality product, not cutting others down to try and preserve one's own existence.

Yes, a nerve has been hit.......

[Seeker]

We all have to work together to make this industry tick. One department won't happen without the others. It should be a case of supporting each other to ensure a quality product, not cutting others down to try and preserve one's own existence.

So....tell us how that would work? I should say I support the fueller's wage (or maybe argue for a raise) and then he'll help the ramp guys get paid more and they'll help the AMEs get more? In the end we can all get paid more? Sounds good to me but I think the math's off a bit.

[deicer]

Maybe it could be as simple as rebalancing the three legged stool.

Capitalism has become a dirty word these days. Yes, the expectation for a profit should be there, but the expectation of an ever increasing profit and bonuses to executives that keep increasing is completely unrealistic.

Labour should be included fairly, and not just as a disposable. Real wages should progress not regress. Why were companies successful in the 1950's and 1960's when the 'Executive' made good money but not obscene money? Think about how much better balanced industry would be if we went back to those kind of pay ratios.

And as for the public and government? Well, they should learn that to have safe reliable anything, that they will have to pay a reasonable price for it and to expect that the price will increase with normal inflation.

In my opinion, where this has gone wrong is that business has bought government and the concentration greed is destroying everything.

Said it before, will say it again. We are in the days of the Robber Barons. Much like the late 1800s, they want labour to be cheap and disposable so that they can life the good life of power and wealth. The only problem is that it led to revolution and global conflict. Will history repeat itself?

[blues deville]

Labour should be included fairly, and not just as a disposable. Real wages should progress not regress. Why were companies successful in the 1950's and 1960's when the 'Executive' made good money but not obscene money? Think about how much better balanced industry would be if we went back to those kind of pay ratios.

Will history repeat itself?

Pennies for jet fuel and a regulated industry?

[deicer]

Why not, it worked.....

[Guest]

Why not, it worked.....

yes it was great for AirCanada or TinCanAirlines as we called it back then but not so good for the other Flag Carrier (Canadian Pacific Airines).

[acsidestick]

Tin Can Airlines - How ironic, that's exactly what almost every CAI aircraft is. ?

[Guest]

Tin Can Airlines - How ironic, that's exactly what almost every CAI aircraft is.

along with all of those in the time I was talking about belonging to Trans Canada Airlines but I imagine that was well before your time. By the by the folks at TCA called us at CPA (Crash and panic). PWA was "please wait awhile" ..... When TCA became AC we knew that they had upgraded to "aluminum can status" Despite the rivalry between our carriers, we could still sit together at the "bucket of blood" in YVR or any staff hotel bar and swap "war" stories , after all we were Airline Employees and quite different from those who weren't.

[DEFCON]

I wouldn't want to attempt to justify the wawcon of any group other than my own, but although it’s not unique to Consolidated, the situation facing the staff is fairly representative of that faced by all Canadians; one labour classification at a time, we’re all going backwards in leaps and bounds.

How many years worth of wage increases etc. have been given up to this corporate name swap?

How does a long term Canadian family survive Toronto’s cost of living when its prime bread winner’s job is reclassified to little more than a minimum wage position?

I’m pretty sure refuelling aircraft doesn’t require a PHD, but I’m not sure the interest of ramp safety will be served when the current group of staff are replaced by people that can’t do better than minimum wage work?

So who in our society is doing all the winning and materially moving forward anymore?