Toronto, Ont. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) has put forward a submission to the Competition Bureau making arguments against increased competition in the Canadian Airline industry.
The IAM, representing thousands of workers in the aviation and aerospace industries across Canada, believes that allowing international carriers to operate domestically in Canada, wiping out long-standing cabotage* laws, will have a devastating impact on Canadians.
“We believe that allowing international carriers to operate in Canada will negatively impact Canadian flagship carriers, reduce service to smaller Canadian markets and profoundly damage the economy and hurt Canadian workers. International carriers will only want to service the most profitable routes, reducing the footprint of Canadian legacy carriers. This will affect our members jobs,” said David Chartrand, IAM Canada General Vice-President.
Continued Chartrand, “Furthermore, profits made by international carriers will be funnelled away from Canada and that would only hurt the Canadian economy. As Air Transportation and Aerospace are the biggest contributors to the Canadian economy, this is something to be very concerned about. The IAM believes that the long-standing cabotage laws need to remain in place to protect our country’s interests and the Canadian government, at all levels, needs to protect well-paying jobs.”
*Cabotage refers to the transport of goods or passengers between two places within the same country by a foreign vessel or aircraft. It often involves regulations that restrict this activity to domestic carriers to protect the national transportation industry.
The IAM represents the greatest number of workers at Canadian airports.