The head of Unifor is calling on all levels of government to help soon to be laid-off pilots and other employees of Sunwing as they decide to halt their operations after March 23rd.
Sunwing made the announcement on Tuesday that the will focus solely on repatriating customers who are currently in vacation destinations. The carrier has temporarily suspended all southbound flights from March 17th until April 9th to concentrate resources on returning customers home safely.
Unifor’s National President Jerry Dias is worried what this move will mean for employees of the company noting 470 pilots are expected to be laid off on April 8th.
“We will not accept any situation where workers are left to fend for themselves, not at Sunwing, not anywhere,” said Dias.
Dias is calling on all levels of government to confront this unprecedented pandemic with unprecedented action to protect the livelihoods of workers affected by this crisis.
Sunwing’s decision to suspend operations and layoff all pilots is the first major layoff announcement of its kind in the Canadian aviation industry. The decision is a direct result of the federal government’s COVID-19 travel restrictions and border closure policies.
To address the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Unifor has called on the federal government and provincial governments to immediately implement a wide series of measures to protect workers across all industries including but not limited to:
- Establish direct, emergency income assistance measures to all workers and families – including those ineligible for Employment Insurance benefits;
- Waive the one-week waiting period for regular Employment Insurance benefits and temporarily eliminate the qualifying hours needed to access benefits;
- Service Canada must issue a directive to employers to code layoffs as “Layoff/Shortage of Work” instead of “other” to ensure no administrative bottlenecks prevent impacted workers from receiving money;
- Place restrictions on any stimulus funding for the aviation industry to ensure funds are directed to support employees rather than executives;
- Place a moratorium on all evictions and postpone any and all eviction orders currently in place.
