Machinists Union reaches an agreement with Airbus Canada to maintain its members’ jobs

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
Press release
For immediate release

Machinists Union reaches an agreement with Airbus Canada to maintain its members’ jobs

Montreal, April 9^th, 2020- Even though production has been suspended since March 24^th and this situation will continue until at least May 4^th, the Machinist union members will remain employed by Airbus Canada.

This will allow workers to benefit from their group insurance while continuing to contribute to their pension plan. Airbus will pay 100% of its Mirabel employees’ salaries. The government will then reimburse the percentage under the Wage Subsidy Program it launched on April 1^st.

“Following our requests, Airbus came a long way so that our members can maintain their employment ties and receive significantly higher weekly income than the government’s program,” said Eric Rancourt, District 11 Business Representative. We welcome Airbus’s open-mindedness to ensure peace of mind for workers during this difficult time. »

“In every respect, this agreement is more beneficial than Employment Insurance or the Canadian emergency response benefit  (CERB),” says Yvon Paiement, President of Local Lodge 712. Our goal is to get the same results elsewhere, which is why we have sent exactly the same requests to other employers. Unfortunately, without getting any concrete results at the moment. »

“Since the beginning of this unprecedented crisis, our goals have been to protect and defend the rights of workers and to prevent the negative impacts that this pandemic could have on them and their families,” explains David Chartrand, Quebec coordinator of the Machinists’ Union. To get through this unprecedented crisis we must all work and stick together. Airbus seems to have understood this by committing to building a strong social dialogue with workers».

Click on the following link to see the details of the agreement.

The Machinists’ Union (IAMAW) is the world’s largest aerospace union with more than 184,000 members in 1,000 collective agreements. Active in Quebec’s aerospace industry since 1940, The IAMAW now represents 65% of unionized workers in this sector. Members of the Machinists work for companies such as Airbus, Bombardier, Rolls-Royce, Stelia, Héroux-Devtek, Safran Landing, L3-MAS, AJ-Walter, Air Canada, Air Transat amongst others.