Tempers have calmed between Airbus Canada and the union which represents 1,300 of its factory workers, to the point where the two parties have come to resolve the impasse by reaching an agreement in principle to renew the collective agreement which has expired last December.
This agreement came on Friday, after an intensive session of talks. Terms of the proposed employment contract have not been revealed, but in a message to its members, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) said a ratification meeting will be held on Next April 21.
The 1,300 employees who assemble the A220 in Mirabel, in the Laurentians, twice rejected – and almost unanimously – the first two employer offers. The assembly line was “severely slowed down” on Monday due to pressure tactics, which prompted the employer to withdraw from a negotiation session.
The former Bombardier C Series has just turned the page on a record year in terms of orders, with 142 firm contracts, while being able to increase its number of deliveries by around 30% (68 aircraft handed over to customers) last year. The production rate must nevertheless double within two years at Mirabel as well as in Mobile, Alabama, if the program, still in deficit, wants to reach the break-even point.
Quebec holds 25% of the program.
Any delay in the profitability schedule risks having consequences for Quebec taxpayers, who have so far injected $1.7 billion into this program developed by Bombardier. By agreeing to remit 380 million in 2022, Quebec was able to postpone until 2030 the moment when Airbus would buy back its stake in the A220. The longer the profits are delayed, the more the amount obtained by the Quebec state risks being reduced.