Strike Day in Bombardier

About 1,800 Bombardier workers are organizing a one-day strike on Monday to demand that their “sacrifices” in recent years be recognized as wages are increased by their employer.

The day of the strike, officially called “Study Day” by the International Association of Mechanics and Aerospace Workers, comes after Saturday’s rejection of a “definitive” offer from Bombardier.

“What makes it impossible to reach an agreement is that the employer has made a final offer on salaries and comparing employee pensions. It clearly did not go through,” said Eric Rancourt, the IAMAW business agent in charge of the Bombardier unit, in an interview with TVA Nouvelles on Monday morning, It was rejected by 76%.

In order to be heard, hundreds of workers held a sit-in in front of Bombardier’s facilities in Dorval and in the Saint Laurent neighborhood of Montreal.

In Mr Rancourt’s view, Bombardier’s union workers had to do their part to help the company over the past few years, by absorbing the loss of production of the C Series, selling it to Airbus, and then accepting some reductions in their working conditions that would enable the company to hold out in the turbulent years that followed. .

“Today, after things are better, people are like, ‘I invested in my employer because I believe in him,’ and they don’t feel like they are getting a return on their investment. […] “We want to be paid at fair value,” Mr. Rancourt said.

Space workers have also noted that the labor shortage extends to their field, making their expertise even more valuable to Bombardier, the guild judges.

The two sides are scheduled to resume negotiations on Tuesday while workers will return to work for the time being.