Canada 3000 employees postpone protest

TORONTO - Employees of grounded Canada 3000 Inc cancelled plans for country-wide protests today out of respect for the victims of an American Airlines plane crash in New York.

Unionised workers, ousted when the airline halted flights and then appointed a bankruptcy trustee, had been scheduled to rally in several Canadian cities. But they changed plans after the plane crashed shortly after takeoff from John F Kennedy International Airport. It had 255 people aboard.

"We did not want to do something inappropriate -- a plane has just gone down," said Andrea Addario, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Union of Public Employees' airline division, which represents many of Canada 3000's flight attendants.

The company's unions have been holding out hope that new investors could be found to save the airline after it stopped flying last week, stranding thousands of passengers.

The airline workers had hoped to find a way to save their jobs and to push for government help.

"The federal government must assure competition in this industry, protecting the jobs of flight attendants and other skilled airline workers," CUPE said in a press release issued before the rallies were cancelled.

But an aide to Transport Minister David Collenette said Canada's position on aid was unchanged.

"The government position has been very clear in terms of what was needed to provide loan guarantees. Our requirements were well known and it appears that they were not able to do that," said Collenette's spokesman Anthony Polci.

Canada 3000, the country's second-largest carrier, had struggled to recover from a steep downturn in civil aviation after the suicide attacks in the United States two months ago.

It announced late on Sunday that its directors had quit and a court had appointed a bankruptcy trustee, whose main task is likely to be to wind up the airline's assets.

The Canadian government agreed last month to provide $C75 million ($112 million) in loan guarantees to Canada 3000. But Mr Collenette appeared caught off guard last week when the carrier sought protection from creditors and then abruptly grounded its planes.

The government loan guarantees had been contingent on Canada 3000 submitting a viable business plan.

The collapse of Canada 3000 left Air Canada as the only major airline flying scheduled services across Canada, although low-cost operator WestJet Airlines offers limited service -- mostly in the western part of the country.

- REUTERS

* The New Zealand Herald will publish a special edition today with updated coverage of the New York city plane crash. This special edition will be on sale in Auckland and main provincial cities at midday.

Complete coverage

Map of crash area

American Airlines information (from within NZ):
0168 1 800 245 0999