Canadian Bait Pilots Ending Foreign Worker Abuse

[shakey]

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/helicopter-pilots-say-they-re-shut-out-of-jobs-by-temporary-foreign-workers-1.1799935

[harleybike]

Hello there ,, I am not a big user of this forum, but here goes the cat,, and we will see how the pigeons make out. I am a professional pilot here in Canada, in a position to employ other pilots, and therefor see a multitude of resumes, my problem arises when I see 20 guys, and 3 of them are Canadian, the rest of the guys and girls on work visas of one shape or the other, willing to do what it takes in the industry to get ahead and generally qualified up the ying yang to do just that,,, now if this means returning to NZ, or anywhere else come to that after a few years,, so be it. A business will inherently use the road with the least path of resistance, it doesn't matter what colour, shape, size or language it is!. And the low maintenance people , will always be ahead of the game as far as employment goes, I quote a line from a resume I have here in front of me.

 

" I am interested in flying with your company, on a 2 on and 2 off basis, and can negotiate my travel costs for positioning",

 

He has 403 hrs!. I plastic coated his resume, and sent it too his flight school, his instructor laughed, and is used in training for others. oh and it started,, to whom it may concern, !!!!!.

 

My experience tells me that the majority of these pilots actually want to stay here in Canada,, for an extended time, and have the work ethic to do excellent, where as it seems that the average Canadian pilot does behave a little different outlook on things at times, now I am all for a decent wage for a professional service, but have to ask myself, why is this the case?. I consider myself Canadian, and actually would much prefer to hire Canadian personnel,( as its the "right" thing to do, right?) so feel for you and your opinions jetboxjockey , I hold dual citizenship by the way and no, not originally from Canada.

 

 

 

Immigration,, does not water down Canada,, it strengthens it from within, with the right people being accepted to work, study, and reside here, this I am sure most people will agree with, the issue comes when the "wrong" people are permitted access to a wonderful country like Canada.

 

Further to this,, I do believe there are quite a few Canadians in the sand pit, as well as sitting in the front of a 139 going forward and backward from many oilrigs all over the planet,,, why?, because we are good at it.

 

ok,, now press "enter" and wait.

 

ps,

[harleybike]

Hey CBRN

 

This is part of our Canadian problem. You are not a Canadian first, and you are in a power to hire Canadian pilots. You hire scabs like yourself from other countries. The VFR market in Canada is being manipulated by managers like yourself.

 

I started VFR in Canada and have worked IFR in Canada and internationally. I can not fly in Europe, Brasil, U.S., New Zealand, etc.

 

Where I can work the requirements are very high and you fly with locals to one day have them replace you. Which is the concept I totally agree with. Then, you move on to another country and complete the same process. We help companies and countries become self- sufficient with heir our local pilots.

 

We allow pilots from other countries to take Canadian pilot job. I do not hold dual citizenship. The counties I have worked will not allow. They protect their own, unlike our own. And yes , I am 100% for immigration, it is what developes a country from within. So, do yourself a favor and help develops YOUR country from within. I mean your Canadian country. Canada did grant you citizenship and gave to a new life here.

 

Just to be on the level. I have a lot friends in Canada which immigrated to Canada and fly helicopters. They do not have your attitude. They would thank Canada by hiring Canadian low timers because they know how badly the helicopter industry and operators treat the low pilots here in Canada. BECUASE they started the careers here as low timers themselves.

 

I believe to succeed in this industry you need determination and attitude. I agree if someone wrote me a letter with 400 + hours asking for a 2 I and off schedule I would still be laughing my *** off. And I like a good joke. I definitely would contact him and advise why I am not going to hire him and give him or her some great advice for the next letter. You know what, he may even surprise me and I could possibly hire him. You just never know.

 

But, I am sure there are more than enough Canadian low time pilots that have resumes out that do have determination and the right attitude. So do not justify to me why you hire pilots outside Canada to work in Canada.

 

Maybe it is time for you to work internationally, or are you even qualified for these positions.

 

DO SOMETHING RIGHT AND HIRE A CANADIAN. we are talking about VFR flying in the bush where non-military pilots get experience to move forward in their flying careers. These low time pilot are not flying IFR on a heavy aircraft to an oil rig 280 NM offshore in the worst conditions in the world.

 

Hey CBRN, I do not It usually post here either. Thanks for your comment because I would have never respond to this thread if it was not for you.

Cheers

[harleybike]

I once worked with a helicopter pilot in Canada from Europe. He sat at a table of Canadian pilots and bragged how he manipulated a loop hole in the Canadian policy for immigration. He came to Canada to do a little EXTRA training and received a visa. Once he got the visa he was off and running, or should I say flying in Canada. I think the worst part of his story was he told all his friends about the loop hole and they started coming to Canada to fly. As he said,"all told as many pilots as I could".

 

Gave him my two cents worth and left the table. Wake up Canada.

[tin lizzie]

Does anyone know if the TFW helicopter pilots they've come across have all converted to Canadian pilot licenses? Or have some been able to take advantage of the the Foreign License Validation so common with the airlines? I'm particularly interested to know about the FLV as it is a second layer of government permission that isn't legally correct but is enabling operators to fast track the TFWs into the (airline) system with minimal fuss.

 

Thanks in advance for your soonest response!

 

Cheers,

tin lizzie

[Guest driver81]

I found this online. These are some of the actual LMO Applications in 2013. For those pilots that have looked for work and didn't get hired, you might want to read through some of these and file a complaint with the above mentioned email from service Canada.

 

There are a lot of applications, and remember some companies have more then one on this list. Some companies also operate as a different name then you may know them as. Also the companies say how many Canadians they have currently employed. That includes, janitors, accounting, engineers, receptionists, ect....

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/105225711/LMO%20Pilot%20applications%202013.pdf

[Grasshopper]

Or maybe quit beating your head against the wall, Twin Helix, despite pilot5's advice.

 

Do you really believe you can convince the Shell Oils and Spectra Energys, and even the Atco Electrics and Encanas to lower their minimum experience requirements. About as likely as Shell and BP dropping their twin engine standard, methinks.

 

The larger helicopter operators (i.e. employers of most helicopter pilots) do most of their work for that type of client and have a difficult enough time keeping adequately staffed to do so, without finding work, and jobs, for lower time pilots.

 

This is a sad reality much of our industry has come to grips with, but apparently not universally understood by our all-important pilot community.

 

Like many operators, ours has, on occasion, been forced to use foreign pilots in order to keep aircraft manned with the levels of experience demanded by our clients, clients almost certainly accounting for a majority of the commercial helicopter activity in Canada. But believe me, when we can get Canadian pilots with the experience we require to satisfy our clients, we hire them, and strongly prefer doing so.

 

Yes, there are operators out there milking the system employing foreign pilots, but don't tar the industry with the brush of what is lilkely a distinct minority.

[shakey]

I would'nt say that the companies that are applying for the LMO's are a distinct minority of the companies abusing it. I'd say maybe some of the larger companies with large fleets are on the up and up. Its the smaller one maybe two base operators that are totally and time and time again proven to abuse it that need to go away.

[Twin Helix]

Or maybe quit beating your head against the wall, Twin Helix, despite pilot5's advice.

 

Do you really believe you can convince the Shell Oils and Spectra Energys, and even the Atco Electrics and Encanas to lower their minimum experience requirements. About as likely as Shell and BP dropping their twin engine standard, methinks.

 

The larger helicopter operators (i.e. employers of most helicopter pilots) do most of their work for that type of client and have a difficult enough time keeping adequately staffed to do so, without finding work, and jobs, for lower time pilots.

 

This is a sad reality much of our industry has come to grips with, but apparently not universally understood by our all-important pilot community.

 

Like many operators, ours has, on occasion, been forced to use foreign pilots in order to keep aircraft manned with the levels of experience demanded by our clients, clients almost certainly accounting for a majority of the commercial helicopter activity in Canada. But believe me, when we can get Canadian pilots with the experience we require to satisfy our clients, we hire them, and strongly prefer doing so.

 

Yes, there are operators out there milking the system employing foreign pilots, but don't tar the industry with the brush of what is lilkely a distinct minority.

First, I've got a pretty sturdy skull, so I'm gonna keep pounding on the wall til I blackout or breakthrough. I know way too many licensed pilots who have given up on finding a job in heli because of hopelessness, I have no interest in becoming another one.

 

Can I convince the energy companies to change...nope. Can the heli industry as a whole? Yes BUT. The BUT requires a collective industry refusal to accept terms which effectively disqualify Canadians from flying. If no one had access (or had limited access) to 1000 hour pilots, then there would be little choice but to reduce minimums or to find a way to get the hours to Canadian pilots.

 

Is it likely to happen? No, because there's always going to be an opportunistic company that will take up the contract under crappy terms in the interest of turning a profit/growing their business.

 

The industry as a whole is forcing it's self into the use of foreign pilots by it's inability to fly low-timers. Pretty much every company that flies low-timers has the same ultimate complaint, "I get them 500 or 1000 hours, then they go down the road to someone who pays them more" The problem is, the guys who pay them more need to poach 500-1000 hour guys and girls because they themselves refuse to train any low-timers. I'm a principled guy, you fly me to a useful level of hours, I keep flying with you. The only reason I'm leaving is if the work runs out or something is patently unsafe in the way you do business.

[Whitestone]

You hit the nail on the head Twin Helix !!! Very well said.

 

You keep bringing in pilots (liers or not...) from out of country with beween 100 and 3000 hours and don't create an internal shortage, things will never get better for Canadian low timers. If the supply dries up the hour requirements will come down. It's all about greed and short term gain.

 

W.