Canadian Airbus A220 workers to start pressure tactics after rejecting contract

Canadian Airbus A220 production workers will initiate pressure tactics on Monday to slow jet production after voting on Sunday to reject a proposed contract and give strike authorization, a union official said.

Canadian Airbus A220 production workers will initiate pressure tactics on Monday to slow jet production after voting on Sunday to reject a proposed contract and give strike authorization, a union official said. Around 99% of the estimated 1,000 members represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) who voted rejected the contract, and gave authorization, said Eric Rancourt, a union spokesperson for the negotiations.

While the authorization mandate does not equate to an actual strike, the vote signals discontent among the estimated 1,300 Montreal-area workers who produce Airbus's smallest commercial jet in Mirabel, Quebec. Union plans to return to bargaining on Monday will coincide with the start of pressure tactics to slow production, Rancourt told Reuters after the vote without giving further details.

The negotiations have raised labor tensions at a time when Airbus is trying to grow production while lowering the cost of its money-losing A220 jet. A second assembly line in Mobile, Alabama also produces the A220.

Airbus's Canadian division said in an emailed statement that this "initial offer had been made to the union following open discussions for a few months and taking into consideration the current context of the A220, which has not yet reached the break-even point." Airbus said while the offer was "in line with the current economical context of the A220 program," it acknowledged the result of the union vote.

The deal offered approximately a 10% raise over three years, and would have removed certain retirement benefits. "We are not going to accept going backwards," Rancourt said. "We need to improve our working conditions."

The union's contract expired in December. Unions have recently capitalized on tight labor markets and inflation to win hefty contracts at the bargaining table, with airline pilots, autoworkers and others scoring big raises in 2023.

Boeing's unionized production workers in Washington state have called for wage increases exceeding 40% over three to four years. (Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Denny Thomas and Bill Berkrot)

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