(Mirabel, Tuesday, July 23) – The joint investment by the Quebec government ($410 million) and Airbus Canada in the A220 program ($1.25 billion) will secure jobs (average salary is $87,500 per year) at the A220 plant in Mirabel until 2035.
This is good news for Airbus Canada workers and for Quebec,” says IAMAW Canadian Vice-President David Chartrand. With these investments, we’re protecting good jobs and supporting a highly strategic and beneficial industry for Quebec,” he added.
Airbus hopes to be able to produce 14 aircraft a month by 2026 in order to achieve profitability. A goal that cannot be achieved without the help of Quebec aerospace workers.
The best aerospace workforce is in Quebec, one of the only places in the world where you can build an airplane from A to Z,” says IAMAW Canada Quebec Representative Éric Rancourt. It’s an investment that will not only benefit Mirabel workers, but also those in the entire aerospace sector,” he added.
The federal government is absent
The absence of a strategic vision and a structuring aerospace policy on the part of the federal government is a hindrance to the development of our aerospace ecosystem.
For over a decade, the Quebec government has been counting on a policy to support the development of its industry, while the federal government has been content to improvise,” laments David Chartrand. Our aerospace industry could do so much more if the federal government took a page out of Quebec’s book.
The IAMAW Machinists Union is the world’s largest aerospace union, with over 184,000 members in 1,000 collective agreements. Active in the Quebec aerospace industry since 1940, the IAMAW today represents 65% of unionized workers in the sector. Machinist members can be found at Bombardier, Airbus, Airbus Atlantic, Rolls-Royce, Héroux-Devtek, Tekalia Aeronautik, Collins Aerospace, Fokker-Elmo, L3-Harris MAS inc, AJ-Walter, Air Canada and Air Transat, among others.
