Negotiations at Bombardier | An accepted offer or a strike for 1,800 employees

(Montreal) Bombardier will not go any further after having improved its final offer to 1,800 of its Quebec workers, according to the union representing them. If the proposal is rejected on Wednesday, an indefinite general strike will be called.

Julien Arsenault
The Press

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) detailed the main lines of the final offer presented by the Quebec aircraft manufacturer last Friday.

To its members, the union explained on Monday that the manufacturer notably raised to 6.5% the increase proposed at the end of the first year of the employment contract, which is for a period of five years. The maximum salary increases are 18.5% over this period.

“In the event of a rejection of the offer, this would automatically lead to the triggering of an indefinite general strike since the employer has been clear, it will not improve its offer”, underlines the missive signed by the president of the section. local 712 Christian Bertrand and business agent Éric Rancourt.

Previously, the multinational offered an increase of $1.85 per hour for the first year of the employment contract and 3% for the following two years. For the last two years, the increases were to vary between 1.5% and 2.5%.

No recommendation

The IAMAW does not comment on the content of the proposal. She says she wants to leave “free choice” to her members. They assemble Challenger business jets in Dorval and work in the Montreal plant in the borough of Saint-Laurent, where parts such as the cockpit of the Global 7500 – Bombardier’s flagship are manufactured.

The vote will take place on Wednesday. The collective agreement for the 1,800 workers involved in the negotiations expired last December. Exceptionally, the President and CEO of Bombardier, Éric Martel, attended the meeting between the employer and the IAMAW.

“Both parties showed respect and it was a cordial discussion,” company spokeswoman Anna Cristofaro said in an email last Friday.

Monday, it did not want to say if Bombardier had a contingency plan in the event that there would be an extended walkout. A strike by IAMAW members had already taken place on June 13, but negotiations between the two parties resumed the following day.

In July 2020, the 1,200 employees of the Toronto Downsview factory represented by Unifor went on strike for a few days. Production of the Global 7500 – Bombardier’s flagship – had been temporarily halted.