The Canadian Helicopters Shaft

[coolhand110]

This is not directed at CHC. This has to do with Canadian Helicopters domestic.

 

[Rotorhead]

In the spring of 1996 a buddy of mine and I were the last two pilots to receive the full 76 hour mountain and advanced ops course in Penticton. I too had to sign “the contract†before training began. At that time, it was for a four year term, totaling about $39,000 with ¼ reduction for each year of service. The way I looked at it, it guaranteed me work for the four years. I thought it was a win-win situation. The low pay was supposed to offset the training costs.

The first year a new pilot says “I can’t believe they are paying me to do this†after a season or two it’s more like “they can’t pay me enough to do thisâ€. The perspective changes as your experience grows and options open up.

My job with Canadian Helicopters Limited, Western Division (as it was known at the time) gave me more wonderful experiences than I had ever imagined. Some bases would start you out slowly, as others would throw you right into the ugliest jobs right away. I looked around me and started to realize that many (all) of the former recent graduates of the ops course were out making more cash, working a better schedule with great companies like Alpine, Helifor, CHC Intl, etc. That was when I viewed the contract as something to endure. The pay was bad; I wasn’t the squeaky wheel so time just went on until the day of my four year anniversary. Guess what, four years plus a day and the pay didn’t go up, so what was there to look forward to?

The contract I signed was not a legal document from a lawfirm, just a simple letter on CHL stationary stating the terms in plain english. Those contracts aren’t worth the paper they are printed on, it’s a moral issue. I honored the contract because Al Eustis was my boss when I signed it and I didn’t want to disappoint him. While I was in training, upper management changed hands and Al was moved into a non-operational position. That was the turning point for a lot of personnel, in my opinion. Good guys like 407Driver started dropping from the payroll and found themselves doing the unthinkable and flying something that wasn’t orange under all those paintjobs. Guess what, they became happy and likely more productive people.

Myself, I stuck it out in a base where we flew our can off, ignored calls from Edmonton and the base manager was the filter between us and the operations department. Life was pretty good until I had my fill of base politics and bad coastal weather. An IFR ticket went onto my license one winter and I was then counting the months until my contract was up. A few years down the road, a few job changes later, I am now an IFR offshore captain on a S61N with CHC doing what I had always thought would be my retirement job. Great management in YVR, great schedule, recent pay raise, lots of traveling. I tell you it beats Wabasca, AB in January or August.

One point is, CHC has put as much training money into me as CHW did and there were no strings attached. No paper hanging over my head. That is something that builds loyalty, not a piece of paper that implies that I am someone’s slave for the contract term. In 1997, four new pilots had been given the mini ops course in Penticton, they signed the contract and wound up all sharing an apartment in Edmonton because they couldn't afford to live alone on the $900 per month and $20 a flight hour they were paid. That's sickening.

Here in Venezuela, I am speaking to a fixed wing pilot that tells me that such a contract is illegal here. The local labor laws state that the employer must adequately train an employee for their job. What a concept.

 

[100ft]

Also coolhand (aka C.H.......hmmm),
A lawyer''s letter is definitely not enforceable. Most civil court orders are not even enforceable.... not until the plaintiff applies for and obtains an additional "enforcement order" to go with it. I''ve seen several law firm letters ordering that I do certain things through my gov''t work. You know where those letters go? Often lawyers will sell their client a "worth a try" letter hoping for a quick easy payment from the letter''s recipient. I wouldn''t go down that easy for them. My advice to your friend would be to start a file today documenting every date and time of every communication with anyone related to this and include all documentation with a notation on when/ how/ who from it was rec''d. Keep it all in chronological order. Once that''s underway, have a letter sent back to CHL explaining the entire situaion as clearly as possible and seek clarification or even reconsideration. If this is done in a professional manner I expect that they will understand that cost recovery under the status quo may be more resource depleting than it would to re-hire this willing pilot (in some capacity). I''m sure something can be worked out.

Good luck!

 

[coolhand110]

Thanks for the info 100ft. I will pass this info onto the other person. It seems that you know me, but I am not knowing who you are.I hope life is treating you well though.

 

[Rotorhead]

I see posts here referring to Canadian and CHC in the same light. They might have the same paint jobs and both sport the “speedchickenâ€￾ but they are two totally different companies with very different management structures. Anyone referring to “Canadianâ€￾ as CHC clearly doesn’t know the operation.

 

[CTD]

Magseal said "Canadian has been known as the training company for years." and then ". . . but when your company has such a large revolving door, you need to at least make an attempt to stem the flow."

And he''s correct that this is happening. What I find utterly unbelievable about this whole situation, is that we have a company that:

- Is stable, or as stable as one can reasonable expect in this industry.
- Is safe. Their maintenance is as good as any, or at least it was when I was there.
- Has a pension plan.
- Has an IFR division, with the ability to ''get ahead''
- Has ties with CHC, and all its mobility.
- Has the possibility of getting on large equipment, if that''s important to you.
- Has urban contracts, for those who eventually want to stay home.

Tell me, why would anyone want to leave? This place should be the holy grail of the Canadian helicopter industry, not a sinking ship from which the rats wish flee. I don''t get it.

 

[coolhand110]

Any opportunity a low time pilot gets is a great opportunity. Canadian has given many people a chance to fly. Living up to a contract or a commitment is the honorable thing to do when someone has given you the break you need. If all people had done this, I guess these contracts would not be an issue. However, when a person gives over 2 years to the company and gets layed off, how can that company expect you to wait by the phone and not find work else where to keep food on the table. To say sorry but we have no use for you at this time, but we will call you when we need you, and if you are not available, you owe us the money remaining in your training bond. This is not a fair practice.

Until recently, I have not had to sign a training bond with a company. This time I had to. I have no problems with living up to the contract that I had signed. However, if I was layed off, I would not expect a letter like this one.

 

[407 Driver]

Rotorhead is correct, we should not compare or confuse CHC with CHL. But in saying that, the old CHW did not measure up to the high standards of the mother corporation either. So the problem here is with the old CHW and the new CHL....Hmmm, that narrows it down a bit.
CTD is correct, with all of those positive attributes, why are people still leaving, and why did 75% of their 1996 roster already leave?????
(100's and 100's of thousands of hours of safe experience?)
Hmmm? I'm guessing that a thread on why we all left would be quite interesting, but not allowed due to some of the personal issues and names mentioned.

MagSeal, you start it, and I'll see if my lawyer will approve my 10 page post....

Coolhand, have you got Canada Labor Relations Board involved yet? The LRB loves to pound on unethical companies like this. In my friends case, they were going to seriously nail some suits to the cross....but unfortunately, company X decided to settle it before the court date.

 

[MagSeal]

I agree with you CTD, I wonder as well why everyone is leaving. I had my reasons, and I did leave alot of the perks behind, but the negatives were far to great to enjoy the positives.
If we started a list of "Why I left Canadian..." I bet it would set a few records for Kyle to be proud of.

 

[MagSeal]

407D, only a 10 page list? you must have left on good terms...

 

[frenchwrench]

I also heard of it being called endentured employement"slavery". NMH had it, and if you wanted out you scared the customer....
Labour board loves this stuff especially with the B.C. vs NMH file they must have had...

 

[CTD]

Actually, I left on good terms, and did it to go to Bell, which I considered a ''step up''. What did I know? I had my complaints with CH-whatever, but in reality they poured hundreds of thousands of $$ into me, and I would have never had the opportunities I did had I not worked for them. I gave them most of my adulthood, and they gave me a resumé.

I just wish I could run it for three years, and have a go at that terrible virus they have.

 

[Albert Ross]

RDM - you''re right - I''m on a s-l-o-w link at the moment, and I should have mentioned that a typical lawyer''s only function is to absorb money into their profession from mug punters, regardless of the job done. When it comes to aviation, make sure you have one that specialises, because most of them just look at the rules and stop there.

I amazes me how many companies spend millions of dollars on a machine, and cheapskate on the driver, who is a minimal part of the cost. Does it never occur to these people that they might try to run a good company and get somebody to *want* to stay rather than force them? If some of the people I have met were to drown in the South Seas, I suspect that you would find their bodies circling the sharks.

Phil

 

[coolhand110]

My friend and a couple of others have talked to the labour relations board and are now starting a file. Not only is the company trying to get money for the training, but they are also refusing to pay them their holiday pay. Another item that is on the contract that low time pilots are required to sign. There must be a few others that have run into this problem. maybe labour relations will investigate more thoroughly.

 

[407 Driver]

Ah yes...withholding pay, What a wonderful bunch of guys in that company, that was also done to my friend.
Tell your LRB guys to call their Kelowna BC office, the YLW LRB office has a HUGE file on the CHW YXD monkeys......