Dissatisfied with the final offer submitted by Bombardier, which they rejected by 76%, 1,800 employees of the aircraft manufacturer will not return to work on Monday.
Posted at 6:51 p.m.
Called to vote at a meeting on Saturday, the 1,800 unionized employees of Dorval and Saint-Laurent rejected the final employer offer by 76%. A first day of strike is scheduled for Monday.
After months of unsuccessful negotiations, the gap continues to widen between the aircraft manufacturer and its workers, according to the union. Wages and indexation of retirees’ pensions are at the heart of the impasse that persists between the two parties.
“This result confirms that Bombardier has a long way to go to rebuild the sense of belonging with the workers,” laments Éric Rancourt, business agent for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW). ), responsible for the Bombardier unit.
“It’s simple, what the members want in this collective agreement is recognition of the sacrifices they have made in recent years to help the company,” says the union, which says it wants to quickly launch a new round of negotiations.
Offers deemed insufficient
Bombardier is proposing a wage increase of $1.85 per hour the first year, and 3% the following two years. For the last two years of the contract, the agreement provides for increases of 0.5% above the consumer price index, for a salary increase that can range from 1.5% to 2.5%.
A previous proposal was rejected last April by 99.6% of workers, who had given themselves a strike mandate at 98.8%.
The agreement for 1,800 employees expired last December. The workers involved assemble the Challenger aircraft in Dorval and also work in the company’s facilities in the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent, where parts such as the Global 7500 cockpit are manufactured.
With the collaboration of Julien Arsenault, The Press