Provinces unite to save jobs
‘Common front’ with Manitoba established
QUEBEC – Economic Development Minister Sam Hamad told the National Assembly Thursday Quebec has established a “common front” with Manitoba to save the jobs of 2,600 Aveos workers.
The bulk of Aveos employees, who maintain Air Canada aircraft, work in Montreal and Winnipeg.
The employees were informed Tuesday that Aveos was bankrupt and they had lost their jobs.
Their union, the International Association of Machinists, has appealed to the provinces for aid because the federal government, which owned Air Canada until 1988, has refused to intervene.
Hamad said he has spoken with Manitoba Premier Greg Sellinger, prompting Bernard Drainville of the Parti Québécois to ask Premier Jean Charest whether he had called Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the Aveos closing.
Charest remained seated as Hamad reiterated Quebec’s position that Ottawa must respect the 1988 Air Canada privatization act, requiring that the airline maintain its aircraft in Canada.
Aeroman, an El Salvador-based MRO owned by Aveos, is not affected by the insolvency because it was kept at arm’s length as a separate corporate entity, one source said.
Aeroman is also partly owned by El Salvador’s national carrier Grupo TACA.
Gérard Deltell, parliament- ary leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec, reminded the government that they were aware Aveos was operating in El Salvador in 2009, when it came to light Aveos workers from El Salvador were being trained in Quebec.
He also repeated that the government is seeking the best legal recourse to save the 1,800 Aveos jobs in Montreal.
The Aveos union suspects the company wants to transfer their jobs to El Salvador, where non-union wages are lower than in Canada.