7 July, 2023
Montreal, QC –
This week, members of IAM Local Lodge 712 working at Airbus Canada in the Montreal area soundly defeated a raid attempt by the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN). IAM members stood strong and united and sent a clear message to the raiding union: “We don’t want you here!”
“What made the difference is that members want to be united to get a collective agreement with Airbus Canada that reflects their value,” said Eric Rancourt, IAM Business Representative and Spokesperson at Airbus. “We were able to respond to the misinformation spread by the CSN. Now that all that is behind us with strong solidarity from our members. we can focus all our energies on negotiating a solid contract.”
“Raiding does not help solidarity, it creates divisions between workers and benefits employers more than employees,” said David Chartrand, IAM Canadian General Vice-President. “Workers need to stand together and fight for better working conditions and a better society!”
Despite using many of their own staff in its campaign, the CSN was unable to obtain enough signatures from Airbus Canada workers to submit an application to the Labour Administrative Tribunal (TAT).
Raiding is when a union tries to attract members from another union instead of helping the 70% of working Canadians who do not belong to a union to join a union. Many responsible unions have chosen not to raid. In fact, one of the main objectives of the national and provincial union federations was to put an end to conflicts between unions and instead focus on the non-union workers, especially in a context where, according to recent polls, the population is in favor of unionization, and the unionization rate in Canada sits at around 30%.
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Media Contact:
Éric Rancourt
Business Representative
IAM District 11
erancourt@aimtadistrict11.org
Frank Saptel
IAM Canada Communications
Phone: (416) 579-0481
Email: fsaptel@iamaw.org
