Air Canada denied exception to labor code in layoffs

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

OTTAW (AFP) — Canada's labor minister has rejected Air Canada's request to lay off 2,000 workers without first negotiating the conditions of the layoffs with the employees.

"After carefully examining the application, I have decided that there are insufficient grounds to grant a waiver to Air Canada," Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said in a statement.

Air Canada recently announced plans to lay off 2,000 workers by the beginning of 2009, in the face of pressure to downsize due to high fuel prices.

The carrier had asked the ministry for a waiver to labor laws that require it to work together with labor groups as it made the layoffs, including forming a joint committee to help those workers losing their jobs.

In the wake of Blackburn's...