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On February 20, 1959-Black Friday-the Canadian government abruptly canceled its contract with A.V. Roe Canada Limited for development and construction of the CF-105, a supersonic, twin-engine, delta-wing fighter aircraft known as the Avro Arrow. Immediately, nearly 15,000 aerospace workers became unemployed at A.V. Roe, including about 1300 of the company's 1500 engineers. Orenda Engines Limited, the A.V. Roe subsidiary supplying the Arrow's engines, also immediately ceased production, affecting over 200 engineers. In total, over 350 manufacturers-many of them also employing engineers-shut down their plants or radically scaled back production because of the CF-105's cancellation. 1
Stanching the Flow
Recognizing that the sudden unemployment of over 8% of Ontario's professional engineers was an emergency that could
have far-reaching consequences for the province, the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario began an
unprecedented campaign to find jobs in Ontario for the unemployed engineers. It advertised in the Toronto newspapers,
asking employers to contact the association if they required professional engineers, and made the association offices
available to out-of-town employers to conduct job interviews. Three out-of-town firms took advantage of this offer. 2
Response to the association's outreach efforts was overwhelming: 337 unemployed engineers turned to the association for help, while employers came up with 175 job openings; association staff made 349 referrals to match engineers with available jobs. 3
Fighting for Severance
The association also considered the one- to two-weeks' severance pay offered many of the A.V. Roe and Orenda engineers
to be inadequate. Accordingly, Council made representations to the two companies and to the Ontario government, noting
that "the notice period [is] not in keeping with the professional status of the engineers," and that "unless the
specialists affected [are] given a reasonable time to relocate, many of them [will] be lost to Canada." To arm
professional engineers for the fight, The Professional Engineer (the association's monthly publication) carried articles informing employee engineers and employers of their respective legal rights and obligations.
The association also watched with interest when Gustaw Lazarowicz, P.Eng., a mechanical engineer from Poland and former Orenda employee, successfully sued the company in 1960 for failing to provide sufficient notice of dismissal or wages in lieu of notice. During the case, Orenda argued that since Lazarowicz was paid weekly and was neither a manager nor supervisor, he was entitled to only one week's salary in lieu of notice. Lazarowicz's lawyer argued that since the engineer was hired for an indefinite period and held a position of "considerable importance requiring a great deal of mechanical and technical expertise," his severance was inadequate.
Finding in favour of Lazarowicz, the Toronto judge hearing the case ordered Orenda to pay the engineer three months' wages in lieu of notice, a decision the company unsuccessfully appealed. When the precedent-setting decision was handed down, the association published it in The Professional Engineer as guidance for all employee engineers. 4
Lost Horizons
Despite the profession's best efforts, however, many of the A.V. Roe and Orenda engineers were lost to Ontario for the
better part of their careers. Jim Floyd, P.Eng., former vice president of engineering at A.V. Roe and largely
responsible for the Avro Arrow program, returned to Britain, where he consulted on the Concorde aircraft project.
Thirty-three former A.V. Roe engineers and scientists joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the
United States, as members of its newly formed Space Task Group, which put the first astronauts into space. Boeing
Aircraft in Seattle, the California aircraft industry, General Electric in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Pratt & Whitney engine
plants in Hartford, Connecticut, and Longueuil, Quebec, were also beneficiaries of the engineering expertise lost to
Ontario in that day almost 38 years ago. 5,6
References
1. Thuma, W.R. "On the Trail of the Arrow," Engineering Dimensions, May/June 1995, pp 39-41.
2. Medland, Tom. "Tom Medland's Column," The Professional Engineer, APEO, April 1959, p 7.
3. Keefer, T.C. "In Your Interest," The Professional Engineer, APEO, May 1959, p 9.
4. "Termination of Employment: Judgment in the Orenda Case," The Professional Engineer, March 1960, APEO,
pp 3-6;10-14.
5. Karasiuk, Marion. "Flying High: Canadian Engineers and The Apollo Moon Landing," Engineering Dimensions, July/August
1994, pp 44-46.
6. Briginshaw, Jeffery F. "More Economical to Proceed," Engineering Dimensions, January/February 1989, p 55.