The local head of the union representing workers at Thunder Bay’s Bombardier plant says world-wide layoffs affecting up to 7,000 employees will not impact local workers.
However, Unifor Local 1075 president Dominic Pasqualino on Wednesday said up to 350 workers could lose their jobs once work on the Toronto Rocket Metro line is completed, but those cuts were always on the books. A company spokesperson later suggested the cuts are all part of the same package.
But Pasqualino said no additional employees should fear losing their jobs.
“At this point there is no news for any additional layoffs in Thunder Bay,” Pasqualino said.
“There were some layoffs scheduled for the end of the year when the Rocket line closes down. There would be some layoffs at that time.”
But even those numbers, which could total between 200 and 300, aren’t set in stone.
“It all depends on, for example, if we’re doing the Edmonton contract or the speed of the other lines, because there are two other lines at work right now – actually three with the Kitchener-Waterloo lines,” Pasqualino said.
“If they speed up or slow down, that will affect the total numbers.”
Earlier in the day Bombardier officials announced the company would cut approximately 10 per cent of its global workforce, including 3,200 in Bombardier Transportation, its rail division.
Another 2,500 will come from Bombardier’s aerostructures and engineering, with 800 chopped from its aerospace product development division and 500 from its business aircraft division.
The company, in its annual financial report, said the savings would amount to between $250 million and $300 million annually.
Bombardier Transportation spokesman Marc-Andre Lefebvre said 400 of the jobs lost in Canada will come from its transportation division, most of which will affect Ontario employees because the province is where most of the company’s manufacturing activity is presently taking place.
“In the case of Thunder Bay, we are expecting by the end of 2016 to see the end of manufacturing on the Toronto Rocket Metro cars,” Lefebvre said.
“As for Thunder Bay, we are still evaluating the specific impact on all of our sites and the exact figures may vary throughout the year based on our production levels and projects. Therefore we’re not communicating any specific numbers site by site.”
Lefebvre also said Bombardier continues to work to find new contracts for all of its plants, including Thunder Bay.
