Michelle DaCruz & Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 19/02) - First Air flight attendants and their union are petitioning different levels of government for support in their bid to prevent the loss of a number of jobs in Yellowknife.

After listening to pleas from the union representing First Air flight attendants, five MLAs drafted a letter to the airline's president, asking him to reconsider relocating positions from Yellowknife to Edmonton.

The letter sent Friday to Bob Davis, president of First Air, was signed by MLAs Tony Whitford, Sandy Lee, Charles Dent, Brendan Bell, and Bill Braden.

"The loss of any job from the NWT has a direct financial impact on our government, and our economy, in the loss of wages, taxes and federal transfer payments," wrote the MLAs.

Bill Braden, MLA for Great Slave, said although their last-minute appeal did not delay the April 14 deadline to decide whether to compete for attendant jobs in Edmonton or change the company's mind on the whole jet relocation scheme, it was important to make the company aware that the territorial government values every job in the NWT.

"We were trying to get the company to find an alternative to layoffs," said Braden.

After meeting with the union Friday, Finance Minister Joe Handley also committed to putting his concerns in writing. But, he said, "we want them to survive, so we don't want to be too hard-nosed with the company. We don't want to force them out of Yellowknife, because we will all lose if that happens."

Last Wednesday, a team of First Air flight attendants and union representatives sat down with Mayor Gord Van Tighem and a smattering of councillors. They asked the city to sign a resolution opposing the layoffs and chastising First Air for pulling back from the North.

"We want First Air to rethink their decision, and hopefully turn it around or at least come up with another solution," said Kevin Beaith, component president of the airline division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Locals 4040 and 4021.

They met with Van Tighem and councillors Robert Hawkins, Blake Lyons, Ben McDonald and Kevin O'Reilly.

The city has tasked economic development director Peter Neugebauer with number-crunching the financial impact of the layoffs. Once those figures are available, the committee will discuss a resolution. But some councillors say there's not much the city can do. "We can't tell private business what to do," said Hawkins.

First Air employs around 250 people in Yellowknife.

Union representatives fear the company is slowly moving all of its operations south. They point to Iqaluit, where only a few employees live full-time in Nunavut, such as counter staff. The rest -- including maintenance workers and cargo handlers -- fly in on a rotational basis.

Jim Ballingall, First Air's vice-president of marketing and sales promised to listen to the government concerns, but said the company won't change its deadlines or its decision to relocate the jet operations to Edmonton.

He added that the airline is laying off employees because they are overstaffed due to recent hires and schedule changes.

Ballingall denies that the company is laying off to save the cost of Northern premiums paid to Yellowknife employees.

From the financial perspective, said Ballingall, moving the jet operations from Yellowknife to the existing jet base in Edmonton is more efficient -- a better use of resources and manpower.

"At the end of the day we are responsible to our stake holders, employees, and customers, to manage our company efficiently," he said.

Ballingall responded to union concerns over the timing of the move, which calls for flight attendants to move south by June. Ballingal says he is adamant that Yellowknife parents won't be forced to uproot their children from school a month before summer vacation.

"We are working to lessen the impact on a case by case basis with the flight attendants," said Ballingall. He said all workers are encouraged to consult First Air's manager of human resources in Yellowknife to explain their individual cases.

He promised the company would be willing to be "as flexible as possible" on an individual basis.