A factory “severely slowed down” by workers in jeans and an employer who retorts that negotiations “will progress at the rate of production”: tension rises a notch in union negotiations between Airbus Canada and the union which represents 1,300 of its workers in Mirabel.
Updated yesterday at 8:00 a.m.
There were hundreds of absentees – around 450, according to our calculations – inside the A220 assembly plant on Monday, following a gesture of solidarity by employees to express their discontent with the place of the second employer offer, rejected by 99.9% the day before.
It was notably dressed in jeans that the union members showed up at the factory, at the request of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW). This violates the European giant’s dress code, which recommends pants without pockets in order to minimize the risk of forgetting “foreign object debris”, such as personal objects, during the assembly of the devices.
However, rather than changing and then going to work, around 70% of the day shift employees went home, which sparked a strong reaction from Airbus, to the point where the employer refused to meet the union side, Monday, even if a meeting was scheduled as part of a “negotiations blitz”.
The number of unionized employees affected this morning leads us to a situation where production of the A220 is severely slowed. Thus, negotiations will progress at the pace of production.
Airbus, in a message sent to union spokesperson Éric Rancourt
This production rate of the old Bombardier C Series must be able to accelerate to bring the program, 25% owned by the Quebec state, out of the red by 2026. This is the AIMTA which reported the Airbus missive in a bulletin sent to its members. The union also asks evening shift employees to “respect its recommendation”, i.e. to “change to return to work afterwards”.
Airbus Canada confirmed that it had not negotiated with the IAMAW on Monday. Its spokesperson, Annabelle Duchesne, says the talks must take place in a “constructive manner”.
“We did not find in these events this morning the appropriate and expected reciprocity for an effective dialogue,” she wrote in an email.
Everything on the table
In its warning to the IAMAW, the European multinational says it could consider “all legal measures” at its disposal to ensure negotiations continue. In this context, the union negotiating committee recommends to its members to “return to work” this Tuesday to resolve the impasse in discussions with the employer.
Almost unanimously, the union members rejected the two employer offers in addition to giving themselves a strike mandate. Salaries, indexation of the retirement plan, working hours, group insurance and outsourcing are among the points still in dispute, according to the union party.
The A220 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 in Mirabel as well as in Mobile, Alabama, if the program is to reach the break-even point.
After the first two months of the year, Airbus handed over eight copies of the A220 to customers, compared to five aircraft a year ago. Delivery data for March is expected to be released soon.
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.
The story so far
November 6, 2023: start of negotiations between Airbus and IAMAW
December 1, 2023: the collective agreement for 1,300 union members expires.
March 17, 2024: the employer’s first offer is rejected by 99.6%.
April 7, 2024: union members reject the second proposal by 99.9%.
Learn more
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2 A220 assembly lines. The first is in Mirabel and the other is in Mobile, Alabama.
source : airbus
2024-04-10 03:25:33
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