Without an employment contract since January, employees of the French aeronautical company Safran, in Mirabel, have just given their union a strike mandate, supported by 99.1% of their members.
Negotiations in progress for several weeks resume this morning, after an assembly held last Friday evening. But their union now has the ability to suspend production at any time deemed appropriate.
The company of 250 employees, specializing in the design and manufacture of landing gear for the airline industry, prides itself on being a leader in its field. It supplies major components found on many Airbus aircraft (A320, A330, A340, A350) and the famous Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Taken from the Safran website.
“Being constantly reminded that we are the leaders in our field makes us proud,” explains the president of the Safran Workers’ Union, Michael Durand. But we would like to make management understand that to remain the leader that we are, it must also be a leader in terms of working conditions, which is not currently the case.”
At the end of a six-year collective agreement, employees are complaining of significant delays at all levels, namely group insurance, the retirement plan and salaries. On this last point, the workers are demanding a 12% catch-up from the first year, an increase that Safran management is not yet ready to agree to.
“It is incomprehensible that a French high-tech multinational cannot maintain or even improve the purchasing power of its employees,” says Louis Bégin, president of the CSN Manufacturing Industry Federation, which represents employees of the Mirabel plant, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At the meeting on Friday evening, 87% of the approximately 130 factory workers took part in the vote.
The French conglomerate bought the activities of Messier-Dowty in 2016. In 2023, its turnover stood at 23.2 billion euros, up 21.9% year-on-year. On the stock market, the value of Safran’s shares has increased by 48% over the past year.
