Engine pact angers machinists union
Legal challenge in the works
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers plans to mount a legal challenge to oppose Lufthansa Technik being awarded a contract to maintain the engines on Air Canada’s narrow-body fleet stemming from the bankruptcy of the airline’s former maintenance unit, Aveos Fleet Performance Inc., in March.
The machinists’ union has thrown its support behind a competing bid from Germany’s MTU Aero Engines Holding AG which, unlike Lufthansa, has promised to keep the work in Canada.
“We are going to oppose the motion for Lufthansa to be the successful bidder for the engine contract,” said Hugh O’Reilly, IAMAW’s legal council, in an interview. “We’re going to throw our support behind the bidder who wants to keep jobs in Canada.”
At issue is about 150 jobs in Montreal and Vancouver. Those with knowledge of the bids say MTU has promised to keep about two-thirds of those jobs in Montreal if it were to win the contract with the remainder going to its sub- sidiary in Vancouver, MTU Maintenance Canada.
IAMAW represents about 400 workers at MTU Maintenance’s facility in Vancouver. In addition to securing those jobs, MTU hoped by keeping the workers in Montreal it could win back contracts with Air China and others previously held by Aveos.
Lufthansa has promised to keep about a dozen jobs in the country, and ship the rest of the work to Hamburg, the sources said.
The chief restructuring officer, Jonathan Solursh, appointed to oversee the divestiture of Aveos’ assets has been given a deadline of Aug. 15 to present his plan for engine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) contract for Air Canada’s fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft.
He presented his motion to grant the contract to Lufthansa Technik to the various stakeholders Friday, and is expected present it to a Quebec court on Tuesday for approval. i am aw, in addition to challenging the decision, will be seeking to push out the court date to allow the union to prepare its arguments.
Air Canada has said it would prefer to have the engine work performed by an MRO provider capable of doing the work in Canada.
In a letter addressed to Solursh in July, Air Canada’s vice-president of maintenance and engineering, Alan Butterfield, pressed that point.
“We urge you to weigh this aspect heavily (which includes the potential for job creation) as you award the contract,” he wrote in letter dated July 12, 2012.
O’reilly said the union intends the contest any decision that would move the engine work overseas.
“Our hope is that MTU will win this bid,” he said. “When the issue of approval of the bidder is taken into account, it has to do more than just look at the monetary recovery for the secured creditors, who are effectively the owners of Aveos. It has to look at the social impact. This is hundreds of families (that will be impacted).”
Lufthansa had no comment Friday.