(Montreal) Around a hundred workers at the Airbus Atlantique Canada Mirabel plant rejected by more than 98% a salary offer presented by their employer as part of the renewal of their collective agreement.
The 105 members in question, who are represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), manufacture the center section of Bombardier’s Global series aircraft.
Without an employment contract since September 30, they rejected the offer submitted by their employer in a proportion of 98.8%, their union announced on Sunday, arguing that the offer “was clearly not up to par expectations” of its members.
“When we look at the result of the vote, it is clear that it did not pass,” underlined in an interview the business agent of district 11 of the IAMAW, Éric Rancourt, who is responsible for the negotiations for the Airbus Atlantic unit.
In its offer, the employer proposed a three-year employment contract which would have seen workers receive salary increases of 3% in the first year, then CPI + 0.5%, up to 3%, for the following two years.
However, according to Mr. Rancourt, this offer does not take into account the reality of the last two years covered by the old collective agreement, during which workers received salary increases lower than inflation.
“The workers signed their first collective agreement on April 24, 2021,” he noted. Between April 24, 2021 and today, we are aware that there was a pandemic and that inflation reached record heights. So what we are looking for is to catch up. »
The union also wishes to make gains regarding other working conditions for the employees concerned, since other workers from the same Airbus Atlantique Canada factory, who work on the cockpits of the Airbus A220, are regulated by another collective agreement which is, in certain respects, better.
According to Mr. Rancourt, it goes without saying that workers from both groups, who work in the same factory, are entitled to similar working conditions.
“When we compare the two collective agreements, there are benefits that are clearly greater from one to the other. Yet they do the same job in the same factory for the same employer,” he lamented.
Despite the rejection of the offer presented on Sunday, intensive discussions will resume this week between the two parties.
The union assures that it wants to continue working with the employer in order to arrive at a negotiated solution, but it has also given itself a strike mandate, so that it does not rule out the possibility of intensifying its means of pressure depending on the evolution of the situation.