MONTREAL, Quebec—After months of negotiations with two semi-related aircraft manufacturers, one group of International Association of Machinists members voted Apr. 27 to ratify the proposed contract, while the other rejected it. The about 3,200 Bombardier employees working on the CRJ aircraft program approved a three-year agreement retroactive to Nov. 30 by a 2–1 margin. But 73% of the about 1,000 workers building the A220 narrow-body passenger jet, designed by Bombardier but now built by an Airbus-controlled company, voted no, and they almost unanimously approved a strike. The Machinists recommended ratification, saying the offer would protect pension plans, ensure job security, and create 150 to 300 jobs at Airbus’s assembly plant in the Montreal suburb of Mirabel. But workers told the Montreal Gazette that the deal’s pay increases of 2% a year were not enough to keep up with the cost of living.
