Military cancels Goose Bay training after strike threat

[Nfld Sapper]

Military cancels Goose Bay training after strike threat
Last Updated: Friday, August 29, 2008 | 9:19 AM NT
CBC News
Canada's Department of National Defence has cancelled a major training exercise at 5-Wing Goose Bay because civilian workers at the airbase have threatened to strike.

The NORAD exercise would have seen 250 military personnel and CF-18 fighter jets from 3-Wing Bagotville, Que., set up at the airbase in Labrador.

Lt. Alexandre Munoz, spokesman for 3-Wing Bagotville, said the operation could not risk even a potential strike at the base.

"If we go to Goose Bay, we don't know what the effect of the strike is, if there is going to be a big strike, a potential strike, we don't know so far," Munoz told CBC News. "So we're doing everything with caution. We always have plan B and C, because we plan a lot. So we're going to plan B because there was potential for strike."

Munoz said the training operation will now go to 14-Wing Greenwood, N.S.

The civilian workers at the Goose Bay airbase voted 92 per cent in favour of a strike Aug. 26. The employees will be in a legal strike position Sept. 3.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Union of National Defence Employees represent 275 workers at the base involved in the dispute.

Serco, the company that manages the day-to-day operations at 5-Wing Goose Bay, has accused the union of undermining negotiations by not bargaining in good faith. The union says the company isn't negotiating fairly.

Union representatives have cited medical travel benefits and performance incentive fees as major issues in negotiations, as well as job security for seasonal employees.

"For NORAD mission, it is enough to cancel the mission," Munoz said of the potential for a strike. "If there is a risk, and at the other place there is no risk, we decided to go at the other place.

"It is regrettable. Goose Bay is a good place for us to train, we still have plans to go there in the future if we have any other exercise."

Decision to cancel unfair, union says
Bernie Bolger, president of the Union of National Defence Employees local that represents the Serco civilian workers, said the decision to pull the training exercise from Goose Bay is uncalled for.

"We shouldn't have to ask the Department of National Defence for permission to take a strike vote," Bolger said. "It's part of the process that we're into, so if they're using that, well I don't think it's very fair to our workers or to anybody in this country in this day and age."

On Thursday, union representatives said they assured DND that even if its workers did strike in September, workers would make some sort of arrangement so that the month-long military exercise would not be interrupted by the labour dispute.

The business community in Happy-Valley Goose Bay had been looking forward to the influx of military personnel. The base has been idle since German troops pulled out of the region in 2006. The decision to cancel the exercises means it will remain idle for a third training season.

 

[aesop081]

Close that damned base already.........the only resident unit is there to rescue units that dont even go to GB anymore. Other than providing heat and lights to empty buildings, housing tumble weeds and proping up the local economy, what purpose does it serve ? I was in GB last June, what a sad state of affairs. And dont even get me started about the "steak House" we went to.

Nada.....

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

It may be that it could cost much more to clear it environmentally and safety wise then to leave some people there.

 

[dapaterson]

Goose Bay is a political albatross.  The Air Force doesn't need or want it, and closing it (even just to lock the gates and keep a waddling Commissionaire or two there) would save untold millions per year.

But the CF keeps it open because no political leadership is willing to put up with the Gov't of Newfoundland and Labrador's incessant whining on the topic.  A useless facility kept open because of a lack of political courage.

(My own opinion, of course...)

 

[GAP]

Goose Bay is a political albatross.  The Air Force doesn't need or want it, and closing it (even just to lock the gates and keep a waddling Commissionaire or two there) would save untold millions per year.

But the CF keeps it open because no political leadership is willing to put up with the Gov't of Newfoundland and Labrador's incessant whining on the topic.  A useless facility kept open because of a lack of political courage.

(My own opinion, of course...)

Well, what with Williams and Harper at odds, now would be a good time.....(especially if the Conservatives don't get any seats in NewFoundland in the upcoming election)

 

[kratz]

The choice was made to close Summerside. Yes, the old arguments were trotted out:

"The local economy will suffer",
"The province will not have a base" ect...

The City of Summerside has made great use of the land and worked hard to replace the departure of the base from the area. In my mind, the arguments against closing smaller bases do not hold as much water as they once did. But again, they are just my onion opinion.

 

[George Wallace]

The choice was made to close Summerside. Yes, the old arguments were trotted out:

"The local economy will suffer",
"The province will not have a base" ect...

The City of Summerside has made great use of the land and worked hard to replace the departure of the base from the area. In my mind, the arguments against closing smaller bases do not hold as much water as they once did. But again, they are just my onion opinion.

That argument may hold some merit, but not in the case of the larger bases that have large "IMPACT AREAS"/Ranges. 

Just a scenario to look at 100 years down the road:  Large Military Base and Range closed and sold off to civilian Developers in 2008.  2010, construction crew digging a Sewer Line in a new subdivision hit a buried bomb and five workmen killed, seven injured.  2027, Homeowner making an addition on his home looses home when UXO explodes setting of a fire that distroys his house and several others in the neighbourhood.  2099,  WW IV starts and CF has to appropriate lands in Algonquin Park for Training Area and Ranges, as in 2040 CFB Petawawa was closed and all lands sold of to Private Developers and Atomic Energy Canada. 

How many years will it take to clear a Range, any Range, of unexploded munitions?  What is the cost to clear a fraction of that land?  What use could this land be safely be put to use as?  Who holds responsibility for any future injury or death caused by a UXO discovered at a later date on this land?

Before anyone goes off saying that the Government should get rid of these "useless" Bases, they had better look at that decision with a microscope.

 

[kratz]

Before anyone goes off saying that the Government should get rid of these "useless" Bases, they had better look at that decision with a microscope.

In all honesty, I do not know Goose Bay, but I was supporting Canadian Aviator's point on the possibility of closing the base. As for taking a careful review of closing a base, I fully agree George. Just look at the problems that Shearwater is having will selling off the airstrip a few years ago and the CF now wanting it again for a staging area for deployments.

 

[Zoomie]

If you have ever been to Goose Bay - you will know that it isn't the hot-bed of real estate.  Closure of the base would result in massive infrastructure being handed over to the small population of Happy-Valley/Goose Bay.  What they could possibly do with underground bunkers, massive hangars that could fit Vulcan bombers - who knows.

There is one road that connects to GB - it is gravel/dirt with Labrador City being the only real stop between civilization and desolation. 

The base has served its purpose - NATO countries and the French are no longer really interested in training there.  Mothball the base - the airfield engineers can practice their deployment skills when the need arises.

 

[belka]

Close that damned base already.........the only resident unit is there to rescue units that dont even go to GB anymore. Other than providing heat and lights to empty buildings, housing tumble weeds and proping up the local economy, what purpose does it serve ?

Doesn't 425sqn use Goose Bay as an FOL for NSO? Can't be completely useless.

 

[Rodahn]

How did we go from cancelling the exercise to closing the base????

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Maybe because it was talked about in the past when NATO started to pull out of there.

 

[kratz]

How did we go from cancelling the exercise to closing the base????

I was working through the strike at the dockyard in Halifax in the late 90s. For normal daily operations, it was not too bad. From an Exercise or Operational point of view, when planning these events, I agree with relocating the EX to another base.

 

[aesop081]

Doesn't 425sqn use Goose Bay as an FOL for NSO? Can't be completely useless.

Great. We can close this increadibly large facility and replace it , in GB to keep everyone happy, with an FOL of the same size as the one found in Iqaluit  for example. Theres no need for all those shacks, hangars, ops building, mess, etc..... if NSO is what you are worried about.

I couldnt beleive what we were doing with that place when i was there in june. The lights and heat are on in buildings that havent seen any occupants in years for f's sake.

 

[Nfld Sapper]

And IIRC most of the builds are in a very advanced state of disrepair.

 

[Zoomie]

... when i was there in june. The lights and heat are on in buildings ....

We've got even bigger problems than I expected - we're heating buildings in the summer now.  ;D

 

[aesop081]

We've got even bigger problems than I expected - we're heating buildings in the summer now.   ;D

It was far from warm let me tell ya.......

 

[aesop081]

Before anybody shows up with the "the SAR Sqn there is needed to provide rescue in the area "

Consider this : It is sooooooo needed for SAR that we sent them to man TUAV in Afghanistan.

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Location: Air Force » 5 Wing Home » Squadrons » 444 Combat Support Squadron 

444 Squadron is one of three combat support squadrons fulfilling a number of roles within the Air Force.

Equipped with three CH-146 Griffon helicopters, its primary mission is to provide rapid response to local emergencies during flight operations at 5 Wing.

Its secondary role is to maintain an twelve-hour search and rescue standby for national SAR taskings.

In its utility role, the Wing supports a variety of taskings at the Wing such as range support, assistance to civil authorities and administrative airlift.

 

[kratz]

Yet we have threads discussing how fast PMQs and other buildings are torn down in other bases like Borden or Petawawa. As George pointed out, keep the land for any number of reasons, but I agree that keeping and maintaining buildings that are not in use is surplus.