Negotiations for the renewal of the collective agreement are getting tough at Bombardier. The union is asking management to present it with “its best offer” so that it can submit it to its members, in order to send a clear message to the employer.
In a communication to its members that The Canadian Press was able to consult, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) informs them that, on Thursday, the negotiating committee will ask Bombardier management to present a global offer on wages, since a major disagreement remains between the parties on this subject.
The parties have been discussing salaries since February 3. Normative clauses have been settled. Already 20 negotiation meetings for the renewal of the collective agreement have taken place. But the negotiations are no longer progressing on wages. The IAMAW, which is affiliated with the FTQ, reports to its members that management is asking for “significant setbacks” equivalent to “several million dollars over three years” and which would affect nearly 1,800 active members of the union.
She claims that Bombardier management has rejected “virtually all of the union’s demands regarding wage clauses” — hence the current disagreement.
The internal message specifies that, during a consultation, the union members had made it known that they rejected in advance any idea of backsliding, that on the contrary they wanted an increase in wages, improvements in working hours, better job guarantees and pension indexation.
The IAMAW will therefore ask the management to make it “its best offer”, which it will submit to its members in the days that follow. “We are asking him to submit what he deems to be his best monetary offer. Tell us that this offer will not have been negotiated between the parties, but that it will be a good way to measure the respect that the company grants us, ”write the president of the union, Christian Bertrand, and the agent of business Éric Rancourt, who signed the message to the members.
Questioned on the subject, the president and chief executive officer of Bombardier, Éric Martel, said he was surprised by the comments of the union party. He called the union’s claim that the company had asked for rollbacks worth “millions of dollars” “rumors”.
“What is surprising is that we have not yet made an offer,” he replied on the sidelines of a speech to the Council on International Relations of Montreal.
Mr. Martel said that he had no intention of negotiating in the public square, but that the employer intended to do “the right thing”. “We shouldn’t speculate too much, too much on what our offer will look like. It’s not on the table yet. It will probably be in the next few days. »