Canadian North slows Iqaluit-bound cargo flights due to COVID-19 outbreak
‘Expect that cargo will move at a slower than usual pace into communities in the Baffin,’ airline says
Canadian North says its cargo customers in Ottawa should hold on to any shipments bound for Iqaluit between Friday and Monday. Delays in cargo are also likely to affect the broader Baffin region, the airline said. (Photo courtesy of Canadian North)
Canadian North has asked all its corporate cargo customers to hold on to their shipments from Ottawa to Iqaluit until at least Monday before bringing them to the Ottawa cargo drop-off facility.
The airline asked them to defer the shipments to next week.
“Due to the COVID-19 situation in Iqaluit, Canadian North’s capacity to handle and move cargo into Iqaluit from Ottawa has been significantly impacted,” Canadian North’s vice-president for customer and commercial, Andrew Pope, said in a letter sent Friday to corporate cargo clients.
Pope said the cargo facility in Ottawa would not have the capacity to move any new shipments dropped off between Friday and Monday.
“Our operations in Iqaluit are also operating at a much reduced level of capacity,” the airline said in a statement issued shortly before 5 p.m.
“We are planning to operate all scheduled passenger flights out of Iqaluit today and over the coming weekend, but expect that cargo will move at a slower than usual pace into communities in the Baffin region.”
The airline said it would continue to prioritize food, medical supplies and other essential goods “until such time that we are able to get back to operating at a normal capacity and our cargo backlogs have been cleared.”
Canadian North’s messages about cargo come after the Government of Nunavut confirmed Friday that there were 13 active cases in the city of about 8,000, with more likely to come over the weekend.
The first of these cases, announced earlier in the week, was a Canadian North employee in Iqaluit, the airline said Thursday.
“Our operations in Iqaluit are also operating at a much reduced level of capacity,” Infected with Covid?
What I don’t understand is why this airline has been flying in people from the south to work in cargo, essential workers that don’t have to isolate at the hotels but are supposed to self isolate which I don’t think they did very will, this airline received millions from the GN but still flew in cargo workers from the south. Isn’t there any local people that can work in cargo? Instead of risking everyone’s health in Iqaluit and the rest of Nunavut with Covid.
With the millions given freely to this airline from the GN how do the MLAs feel about flying in outside cargo workers? Maybe next time you decide to give millions to this airline have some conditions put in place such as working to create more local cargo hires. It can’t be that complicated.
They fly in workers from the south as employees work on a rotational schedule. As for your comment about hiring more local people, it’s difficult to do as most locals will work a day or two, dissappear for a few, show up for one, dissappear again. It’s a vicious cycle.
Really? I’m from Nunavut. I applied to work for Canadian North, and just like the post office, when I found out what they paid, I declined because there’s no way I could pay rent and eat on the wage they were offering. I am a great worker, and I and many other great workers could have been a solid asset to their company. But they pay down south wages, so that is only going to attract workers who may “disappear”, rather than one of the many qualified, hardworking people who live and work here.
The pay is not the only reason people work with airlines, the travel benefits are great, 200$ to vacation in Mexico for example.
Most locals? Most. Not some. Most.
Wow.
Even if that was an accurate statement, you’d think an Inuit owned company would want to work with Nunavut Inuit at a young age to help develop them into loyal, diligent workers. You don’t attract many of the awesome workers with the wages they offer.
It’s because they can’t get enough people from Nunavut to work full-time because they don’t pay a living wage. I find that so odd because they are Inuit owned, so you’d think they would want to employ Inuit and pay them a fair wage and provide benefits that would actually improve lives, such as housing.
I tried to give you the thumbs up but accidentally pushed the down one. But??
I 100% agree with you, for local hires the pay and benefits are different, no housing as compared to these southern hires that come up on rotation. Doesn’t make any sense but First Air(Canadian) has been doing this for decades.
As a company apparently owned by Inuit in Nunavik and NWT they sure turn a blind eye for not working towards hiring locally and providing the same benefits.
Why monopolies are bad 101. There’s no recourse. If we don’t like how Canadian North handles their affairs, too bad. The customer can’t choose another airline. They’ll just pretend this never happened and keep lining their pockets with GN $$$.
Just wondering why someone who is deemed an essential worker is not required to self-isolate.Why is this person going to public buildings? For example a bar .
Essential workers who are exempt from the isolation hub protocols are required to be only in their housing, traveling to work, at their place of work, and travelling back to their housing. That’s it.
Anyone who is exempt but out and about is not following the requirements. Deal with them.
But don’t paint all of the essential workers with the same brush please. Most essential workers understand the trust that is being placed in us and make all efforts to reduce the risk of bringing COVID to Nunavut.
The airline hires southern workers on a rotational basis as they need a stable, reliable workforce that will show up for work every day.
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First Air tried, many times, to hire locally. They have in the past hired about 50% more positions than are required to have enough cargo/ramp agents to handle every flight. There were still too many instances where enough people did not show up.
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As for the wages, the cargo agent position is a unionized position so the pay is actually quite good. It may not be “GN” level but there are many other very generous benefits, not the least of which are reduced travel, and in the north reduced cargo rates. In addition there is health & dental coverage, matching RRSP funds, yearly increases to pay, and upward mobility if you want.
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Don’t forget that there is a cost to repeated hiring as each person has a training cost. If they quit or don’t show up and get fired then that is an expense without any return.
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Iqaluit is also a hub. If aircraft are delayed there it reverberates through the system, and for example pilots have a limited duty day. Delay a flight and you may need a new flight crew, or you may have to cancel the flight.
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They also lose 1/2 day travel in each direction for each rotational employee and have to provide housing and food. I’m sure that Canadian North would love to hire locally but it hasn’t worked in the past.
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Should a southern rotational employee be going to the bar?
No.
Absolutely not, especially during a pandemic.
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Did they get infected at the bar, I don’t know and Dr. Patterson has not confirmed if that is the case.
They don’t pay much more than working at Co-op. That doesn’t go very far up here. You aren’t going to attract a decent local workforce if you don’t pay a wage and benefits that a single person can live on.
The pay is not quite good, unionized or not. It is good for down south, but not up here! Housing? Nope. Dental benefits are not going to attract hardworking Inuit..they get their dental covered already. Travel benefits don’t do much when you have a family and want to house and feed them. Unionized pay with a solid northern allowance would be a start.
A lot of good points made. The wages offered to “local” employees versus rotational employees is not even remotely comparable. Not only do rotational employees get housing they have all their groceries paid for.
The front line counter staff are by far getting the worse end of the deal. They start out at $15 and hour, are considered essential, get no housing, and are told as long as COVID restrictions in place they cannot use their standby passes. Not to mention they are the most at risk for COVID exposure working everyday with travelers.
Canadian North tries to explain away the crappy wages by saying you get “travel and cargo benefits’. Sorry but that is a poor excuse to underpay your staff. They haven’t been able to use the travel benefits for over a year, and they have cut back on the travel benefits to the point that you pay almost as much as a full fare ticket versus your standby seat.
The merger and recent union negotiations completely discriminated against the First Air agents. The First Air agents get lower pay then those who were Canadian North agents, plus Canadian North agents got a “bonus” that was higher then that offered to the old First Air agents. In a guise to promote “inuit employement” they made these fancy sounded inuktitut job titles that offered bonuses for being bilingual. Yeah a measely $1 more an hour, bringing a starting wage to just barely more then minimum wage. Why would any bilingual person want to work for such low pay? They could get a job with housing and better pay anywhere else in town.
All the First Air agents either quit, or retired if they could both at cargo and at the counter. I agree with the fact they need to hire more local staff, and if they refuse to pay a living wage then at least offer housing. There are lots of local staff that are also hard working and show up. Would you want to work doing the same job with someone else who gets housing, groceries and more pay but get less pay and benefits? Of course not.
A lot has been said about the wages. Does anyone have any actual numbers, like from a collective agreement or something? What are the actual wages for the jobs?
When I applied a couple of years ago is was 18 or 19$ pee hour. The comment above mentioned the front counter staff make 15$ an hour. Might be a dollar or two more these days. Not sure because they don’t tell you until you ask in the interview.
Why cant private businesses hire good hard working inuit? Because the well educated inuit with a drive to work get picked up by th GN with unmatchable wages and benifits. Private sector get left with the complainers and quitters, maybe higher wages might get an educated local to try out, but its no GN job, once one of those open up for him or her… bye. You want cargo to operate at its most efficient way possible, you better hope they have the best possible dependable employees that show up everyday, and well you and I both know most locals dont work that way, our people werent taught by our parents the importance of following a schedual, or bosses instructions, instead were taught its ok to quit, there is always walefare to fall back on.
When the GN pays $30 + Northern Allowance for Janitorial work that sets the bar high for what is expected as pay. Not that Janitorial work is not important and I am glad that their pay is good but might create discrepancies for other jobs. Maybe the GN should pay everyone the Northern Allowance no mater what job they have (for Nuanvumiut not for southern shift workers)… if they have a job, Even if the job is in the private sector. would help keep more money in the communities.