Negotiations resume at Bombardier after one-day strike

A Bombardier plant is seen in Montreal on Friday, June 5, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Negotiations resumed Tuesday between Bombardier and the union representing 1,800 workers at the company's Saint-Laurent and Dorval plants after a one-day strike Monday.

Union members of the Association internationale des machinistes et des travailleurs de l'aérospatiale (AIMTA), affiliated with the FTQ, had rejected the employer's final offer by 76 per cent on Saturday.

They went on strike for a day on Monday before returning to the bargaining table Tuesday morning.

"We came in with yesterday's dose of energy. The support is phenomenal. It's historic the support the bargaining committee can get from its members. But, at a negotiating table, it takes two parties to reach an agreement," said AIMTA business representative Eric Rancourt, who is responsible for the Bombardier file.

He stressed that workers want a negotiated settlement, "not a final offer."

He reported that Bombardier workers are feeling a great deal of "frustration" as they feel they have made sacrifices over the past few years to support the company and have seen past executives receive bonuses while they have not yet received the increases they wanted.

The union said the employer offered a $1.85-per-hour increase in the first year of the contract, followed by 3 per cent increases in the second and third years. For the fourth and fifth year of the contract, the offer included wage increases of 0.5 per cent above CPI, with a minimum of 1.5 per cent and a maximum of 2.5 per cent.

The offer also included provisions to end certain subcontracting activities and increase job protection.

Bombardier management had confirmed late last week that negotiations would resume on Tuesday, but the employer said it was "disappointed with the results of the vote," namely the rejection of its final offer to union members.

The issues that remain in dispute are wages and pension indexing.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 14, 2022.