Striking workers expected to return to jobs at jet-building plant at Pearson Airport in Mississauga, Ontario | insauga

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UPDATE: A statement from Unifor late Tuesday afternoon said the unionized workers at Bombardier’s Global Manufacturing Centre at Pearson Airport in Mississauga have rejected the tentative agreement and strike action will continue.

More than 1,300 striking aircraft assembly workers at a huge new jet-building plant at Pearson Airport in Mississauga are expected to get back on the job after reaching a tentative agreement with Montreal-based Bombardier.

The 1,350 or so employees have been on strike for just over one week after failing to come to terms on a new contract with the worldwide aircraft builder on June 22.

The assembly plant workers, represented by Unifor, then rejected what at the time was a final offer from the company on June 24.

However, Bombardier confirmed on Tuesday morning the two sides have struck a tentative deal. No other details were provided.

Mark Masluch, a spokesman for Bombardier, said in an email to insauga.com that a tentative agreement is in place, but no other details will be released by the company until the deal has been ratified.

“Bombardier is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with Unifor Locals 112 and 673,” he wrote. “Both sides worked diligently to secure a mutually beneficial way forward. This tentative agreement strongly reflects the high quality of work performed by our talented employees and our long-term commitment to the site.”

Unifor, meanwhile, has yet to respond to inquiries from insauga.com.

Bombardier’s new Global Manufacturing Centre, described by the Montreal-based international firm as a “state-of-the-art” final assembly plant for its line of Global business aircraft, completed its move from Downsview and opened at Pearson a few months ago.

The 770,000-sq.-ft. plant, the largest standalone structure built in the past two decades at Pearson Airport, cost in the neighbourhood of $670 million to construct. It houses several thousand workers whose finished products are sold around the globe.

As of late March, all operations had been moved to Pearson after the recent final closing of the old Downsview plant.

Already building private jets considered to be among some of the fastest in the world, Bombardier has said it will soon be building “the fastest” such aircraft.

Set to come off the production line in 2025, the company’s new flagship Global 8000 aircraft will whisk passengers around the world at a speed approaching the speed of sound and greater than that of any other private jet currently in the skies, company execs said earlier.

At $78 million apiece and with room for 19 passengers, the Global 8000 will fly at a top operating speed of Mach .94 (about 1,160 km/h). Mach 1, the speed of sound, translates to 1,234 km/h.

During a test flight in May 2021 observed by a NASA-operated Boeing F-18 fighter, the new Bombardier private jet broke the sound barrier when it recorded a speed of Mach 1.015, or 1,243 km/h.

(Cover photo: Bombardier)

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