If you thought that airline travel couldn’t become anymore of a nightmare, think again.
Mechanics, toolmakers, technicians and welders at Airbus’ factory in Canada have voted in favor of a strike after rejecting a contract from the company that included a low wage increase, and it can have a negative impact on the production of the Airbus A220 aircraft which can spell trouble for passengers who are already experiencing the fallout from Boeing’s recent production mishaps.
Related: Major airlines may be unable to meet record-high travel demand this year
About 1,300 out of the 3,000 workers at Airbus’ factory in Quebec, Canada, are members of the International Association of Machinists and Construction Workers union. After their employment contract with Airbus expired on Dec. 31 last year, the company proposed another three-year contract that included a 10.3% salary increase which the union workers claimed was insufficient as it doesn’t align with current inflation, according to a recent report from La Presse.
In a vote, roughly 99.6% of the union members rejected Airbus’ contract offer and 98.9% voted in favor of a strike. Some other concerns from the union members at the Airbus factory in Canada also include insurance and pensions.
“We are asking the employer to be open-minded and negotiate an employment contract of fair value,” said a spokesperson for the union while speaking to La Presse.
The move from the union comes after Airbus revealed its ambitious goal to speed up its production rate of its A220 plane to 14 aircraft a month by 2026. A220 is used by major airlines such as JetBlue, Delta, Air Canada, etc. A strike at the company’s factory in Canada could impede efforts to speed up production of the plane as the only other assembly line that produces it is in Mobile, Ala.
Airbus is one of the two airplane manufacturers in the world that create large passenger aircrafts. Boeing is its only other rival. Boeing is currently facing an investigation into its safety and quality control practices after an Alaska Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing on Jan. 5 after a door plug blew off of the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft in the middle of flight. A string of other incidents involving safety issues with Boeing aircrafts soon followed.
As airline travel is expected to reach a record-high this year as 4.7 billion people are expected to be in and out of airports, many CEOs of major airline companies in the U.S. have warned that they may not be able to meet the high demand as airlines are experiencing a backlog of jet delivery delays from Boeing.
