THUNDER BAY -- Dominic Pasqualino is adamant Bombardier won’t get concessions from his union members as labour negotiations hit the 11th hour.
On Wednesday the president of Unifor Local 1075 bargaining unit drew a line in the sand, announcing workers will walk off the job at 2 p.m. on Monday if a deal isn’t reached by that time.
Talks are ongoing, which gives Pasqualino hope that an agreement is imminent.
“Nobody wants to walk off the job. We’re looking for a settlement here, but we won’t know until Monday at 2 p.m.,” he said.
“We’ve been talking every day, and I think that’s a good sign. The talks have been going back and forth and that’s the best that we can hope for at this point.”
Pasqualino said the union had to set a strike date because the company, which was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday, refuses to take the concessions off the table.
At stake are pension and benefit cuts, although Pasqualino would not say exactly what the company was seeking from his membership.
Bob Orr, an assistant to Unifor president Jerry Dias, said the talks are going fine, but they’re not out of the woods yet.
“We’ve been able to narrow the issues. We’re down the issues that are obviously most important to both sides. It’s a process and there’s certainly lots of time to reach a deal,” he said.
The union represents about 1,100 employees at Thunder Bay’s Bombardier plant. Their previous contract with the company expired on May 31.