Pay pilots better or risk further northern Manitoba court delays, union says

Low wages are the source of a pilot shortage contributing to delays in Manitoba's circuit court system, according to the union that represents them.

Flights taken by circuit court staff to 22 remote Manitoba communities from Winnipeg have been cancelled repeatedly in the past number of months, according to several lawyers CBC News has spoken with, as well as the province's chief judge, Margaret Wiebe.

Both the company and the provincial government have chalked the problem up to a global pilot shortage, but Tim Perry, a working pilot for WestJet and the president of the Air Line Pilots Association Canada, says that's not quite it.

"Characterizing the pilot supply issue today as a global pilot shortage is either a considerable oversimplification or a plain mischaracterization," he said in an interview on Friday.

"What we really have is job offers that are not competitive right now. Pilots are choosing career paths that are better paid."

The union represents up to 500 pilots at airlines owned by Exchange Income Corporation, including Bearskin Airlines, Perimeter Aviation, Calm Air, Wasaya and PAL Airlines and Aerospace.

A job listing for a first officer at Calm Air has a salary range of $34,014 to $82,603 while the Perimeter Aviation collective agreement lists the base salary for a first officer with four to five years of experience as just over $35,700. A captain can make as little as $36,108 as their base salary.

Perry said starting wages for some pilots haven't changed in more than a decade, meanwhile the cost to become certified as a pilot and accumulate flight hours has skyrocketed.

Perry worries essential services such as flights for circuit court will continue to be affected as long as employers try to "have their cake and eat it too. They want to keep costs low and attract and retain pilots, but unfortunately with this pilot market that's really difficult to do."

"My concern is that pilots will continue to leave these operations, their operations will continue to struggle to hire new employees, and that they will continue to struggle to deliver these very, very important services," he said.

Privatization led to 'huge reduction' in standards

Previously, court parties were flown into communities by private carriers or the Manitoba Government Air Service, which pilots saw as an "employer of choice," according to a 2018 report by the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union, which represented those pilots until the service was privatized.

There was low turnover, competitive wages, predictable work hours and many opportunities for advanced training, the report said.

Perry echoes those findings, and says the government air services had no trouble attracting and retaining pilots.

That report predicted there would be delays administering justice in remote communities before the province moved to privatize in 2019.

The union cautioned that private carriers that could take over these services are often the hit hardest by pilot shortages since their pilots are typically newer, have less experience and move on to bigger, preferred employers when they accumulate enough hours, the report said.

The next year, the government announced it was contracting Exchange Income Corporation to provide services for general transportation under air services, including air travel for judges, sheriffs and defendants.

"There has been a huge reduction in the standard and the quality of those jobs when that shift happened, and a lot of that was foretold, absolutely," Perry said.

"Those air operators are have a responsibility to do their part to attract and retain workers so that they can deliver on the services that the communities depend on."

CEO and director of Exchange Income Corporation Mike Pyle said in an email to CBC News on Friday that the company isn't allowed to speak publicly about the terms of its contract with Manitoba Justice, but did say it's working with the province and anticipates a solution to the challenges in court circuit delays shortly.

He added that each of the carriers under the corporation's umbrella, which includes Calm Air, Perimeter Aviation and Keewatin Air, negotiate their contracts separately with their unions, one of which is ALPA, and some are currently discussing their collective agreements.

Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen addressed the court delay issues in an interview after a Tuesday news conference.

He said he's looking into having more routine hearings done virtually to try to mitigate delays using newer technology, with help from the federal government.

"We take it seriously. We're looking at solutions that are longer-term. I wish I could tell you that finding pilots was as easy as adding water and stirring, but it's not that easy."