Goodday folks,

Unfortunately we have to go to a central deicing Facility here in Toronto. Times have to be booked because all flights are funnelled through there. Back in the Good old days we did our own A/C which was alot quicker. Unfortunately It does cause some delay. But the amount of times it has to be utilized during a winter season does not warrant a schedual change.

Yes in the in-flight world there is no such animal as overtime and crew legalities are common (trust me I've been pulled off of active flights to push aircraft because of crew duty times becoming illegal) On the aircraft services side we do have the overtime and we also have a maximum duty day.

To the issue of people on lay-off status this is an issue of the Union and Company negotiating the "Company" requirements. The cost to the Company of paying overtime is far less than paying full benefits and a salary to an employee. To this reason even a modified work week would not be an advantage. There are many arguments pro and con to the idea of laying people off, this is but one.

regards YYZAC