Steps to find new suppliers, delayed bill payments and planned reductions in work volumes… This is how Air Canada prepared for the Aveos crash, which occurred in March 2012, which allowed ‘company to save at least $ 600 million in the years following the disappearance of the maintenance specialist, according to lawyers representing his ex-workers.
In raising the curtain of pleadings in the context of the trial of the collective action of at least 150 million brought by the former employees of Aveos against the company on Tuesday, the prosecution focused in particular on the role played by the largest airline in the country in the debacle of its supplier.
The amount claimed does not take into account individual damages.
According to the prosecution, the evidence presented during the trial showed that Air Canada knew “at the latest” as of January 2011, that it would launch a call for tenders for the maintenance of the airframes of its planes and that this contract would not be won by Aveos because of its high labor costs.
“The solution was to cut the employment links with them (the Aveos workers) and cause the collapse of the company,” pleaded Anne-Julie Asselin, who is one of the lawyers for the prosecution. Then it was a matter of blaming the crumbling on her (Aveos) rather than Air Canada. ”
Since the airline wanted to cut its expenses significantly, it cannot claim to have been taken aback by the closure of Aveos. During their testimonies, the current president and chief executive officer Michael Rousseau and his ex-boss Calin Rovinescu, had claimed the opposite.
By escaping this contract, the maintenance company, which generated more than 90% of its revenues from Air Canada, found itself weakened. According to the evidence presented by the prosecution during the trial, Air Canada planned to grant to other suppliers, as early as June 2012, that is to say a year before the expiration of its exclusive contract with Aveos, the contract for the maintenance of its device cells.
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Responsible for the maintenance of Air Canada planes, Aveos suddenly went out of business in its centers located in Montreal, Winnipeg and Mississauga after losing much of its maintenance contracts. This had given rise to legal action against Air Canada, which was criticized for not respecting the obligations of its 1988 constituting act.
Overnight, about 2,600 employees, including 1,800 in Quebec, lost their livelihood. The class action covers the period from 2012 to 2016, when federal law was amended by the Trudeau government to give Air Canada more flexibility.
The lawsuit also focused on non-compliance with federal law, which had already been confirmed by the Superior Court of Quebec and the Court of Appeal in the context of legal actions that had been brought by the Quebec government – before being abandoned – to Air Canada.
During the trial, defense witnesses explained that the volume of work assigned to Aveos by Air Canada remained relatively stable between 2010 and 2012. Looking at the invoices, the prosecution estimates that the data was inflated by 46%. for the first months of 2012, since invoices from previous years totaling 37.7 million had been recorded.
“It does not count in the volume of business that”, launched Me Asselin to Judge Marie-Christine Hivon, of the Superior Court of Quebec.
When it ceased operations, Air Canada owed Aveos at a minimum 44.2 million, according to the lawsuit. This additional financial pressure on the maintenance company prevented him from keeping his head above water.
During the trial, the former president and CEO of Aveos Joe Kolshak painted a portrait of the difficult relationship between the company and its main client. Aveos wanted to diversify its sources of income, but the numerous disputes over unpaid invoices as well as the cancellation, reduction and postponement of maintenance work that would have been decreed by Air Canada sounded the death knell for the maintenance specialist, had related Mr. Kolshak.
On Wednesday, it will be the turn of Air Canada lawyers to address Judge Hivon.