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Out-of-work Aveos staff let down again

By: Murray McNeill

Posted: 03/29/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

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KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS archives Aveos closed plants across Canada.

THE blows keep coming for local out-of-work Aveos employees.

The final paycheques the 412 workers were told would be available Wednesday failed to materialize.

"I should have had 150 hours of pay on my last paycheque -- two weeks' salary and 70 hours of banked time -- and I got zero," Wayne Whelan said after an information session, which was attended by about 300 of the 412 former Aveos workers in Winnipeg.

The aircraft mechanic, 47, and married father of two said he wasn't surprised the money didn't arrive. But it's still frustrating because he said he worked hard for that money and could really use it, he added.

"There's nothing tying us over" until they can begin collecting Employment Insurance benefits -- no final paycheque, no severance pay, no pension money, nothing, he said.

And there's no indication when they'll start receiving EI benefits, he said, because Aveos Fleet Performance Inc. hasn't provided EI officials with records of employment for the 2,300 employees it cut adrift last week when it suddenly shut down its aircraft maintenance and repair plants across the country, including the one in Winnipeg.

Aveos was formed after Air Canada spun off its technical services division in 2007, and did most of the repair and heavy maintenance work on its planes. It said it was closing its Canadian operations because it was no longer getting sufficient work from Air Canada.

Whelan and an official for the union representing the former Aveos workers -- the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers -- said the purpose of Wednesday's meeting was to provide workers with information, including how to fill out an EI application, how to prepare a resume and conduct a job search, and how to conduct themselves during job interviews.

"It was do's and don'ts and stuff like that," Whelan said. "And they had a private (employment) counsellor there and some forms to fill out. So we did get some good information."

But what they didn't get was answers to how they can support their families in the meantime.

"There was a whole room full of very, very upset people," Whelan said.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger said the province is still considering legal action to ensure the aircraft maintenance jobs stay in Manitoba as required under the Air Canada Participation Act. However, he said the federal government must force Air Canada to obey the law. Transport Minister Denis Lebel has asked a House of Commons committee to study the issue and is also seeking a legal opinion on whether Air Canada broke any of its obligations, which led to the closing of Aveos.

Selinger said that is not good enough. "He's kind of missing the point there," he said. "We need to make them accountable on the act."

Selinger said the province is also working with the union and Air Canada to try to find a player in Manitoba who can take on the aircraft maintenance and repair.

IAMAW official Tony Didoshak said union officials were told the paycheques didn't arrive because the court-appointed corporate restructuring officer in the Aveos case hadn't gone to court to get the OK to pay out the money.

"I don't understand why he wouldn't have done that already. I guess he has his hands full," Didoshak said.

He said IAMAW officials are expecting to appear before the Commons committee next week.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 29, 2012 B4

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