Originally Posted by
Fiordland
Oh, what a disrespectful way to write a press release. The tone is all wrong. This is not going to help their cause. They should start by being thankful for the assistance that the airline is receiving before asking for special treatment.
This is a program that is keeping a lot of businesses alive, especially in the tourism and hospitability industry. WestJet is in the same boat as many other businesses that are waiting for details on what this program looks like in January. The details until the end of the year have been out from some time, what is unknown is what happens in January.
The federal government announced its intention to extend the program into the summer. The government now needs to go to parliament and obtain a mandate from the tax payers representatives to extend the program.
It is also weird this is from the union and not some type of joint new release from the company and unions. They need to come up with a common consistent request before they start demanding the government do things.
Good for them. They are right to be aprehensive.
It seems this labour group is simply conveying their workers personal financial burdens/ concerns of their respective workers. If it wasn’t this group voicing these concerns it would have been another group.
It is justifiable for them to raise concern of the workforce , which was given a set amount from the onset of the subsidy program , in the beginning of the pandemic in Canada, and to now have a drastic reduction in the benefit , knowing that virus is heading into second waves with potential for more lockdowns in Canada as seen across the world already. It is rightful criticism as seeing as how many times this program was modified . Fixed household costs do not wait and perhaps the government ought to be more nimble in their handling and deliverance of their promises of these covid relief benefits. Yes ofcourse there is due process in legislating bills and what not. But one would think, knowing this virus has not finished its wrath, is it wise for any government to begin clawing back benefits? Especially with no cure or vaccine yet available? So why tinker with emergency benefits and begin tapering them down? Of course your public will react and demand you to act quick and to provide consistent relief.
It appears from reading Canada’s press that it isn’t the only area of the Canadian public crying afoul, it appears the CERB was also going to be cut at such a critical time and to have the recipients transitioned to a newer employment insurance with a reduced benefit amount. At such a critical moment , this does not make sense. I see the government has now decided to maintain the original $500 benefit amount with the transition to the new employment insurance benefit.
It is quite embarrassing the Canadian government is not doing something specific to ensure the air transport sector does not collapse. Even here in Denmark our governing bodies are aiding SAS.
Shameful to see Canada and the U.K both taking a sideline approach to the aviation sector.
From one perspective, yes the aviation sector is in the same boat awaiting for details on how the Wage program will further unfold . The main difference however is where the aviation sector is seated in that “boat” and how many seats it takes up on that boat in comparison to other industries relying on the Wage subsidy. Canada’s aviation sector alone
supports more than 600,000+ jobs and contributes approximately 3% to the Canadian GDP.
The airline sector is further throttled by quarantine and border restrictions which are decimating aviation / hospitality industries more so.
If the Canadian auto sector was seen as a a priority in 2008’s disaster , so to is the aviation.
This letter highlighted some very excellent points.
https://www.eturbonews.com/567293/ca...ustin-trudeau/
I quite like flying on both your national carriers on my trips to Canada, hopeful your government does alleviate your airline sector. It appears relief in this crisis truly depends on what part of the world one lives in
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/w...ief-wages.html