Five-week Safran strike in Quebec exacerbates problems in aircraft supply chain

By Allison Lampert

(Reuters) – A five-week strike by Montreal-area workers at Safran SA, which makes landing gear components for Boeing and Airbus jets, shows no sign of resolving as planemakers say supply chain problems are hampering production.

On Tuesday, workers demonstrated outside the factory in Mirabel, Quebec, where Safran operates its operations with non-striking staff, a company spokesman said.

The aviation industry has been suffering from supply shortages for months. European aviation giant Airbus on Monday lowered its forecast for deliveries this year from 800 to around 770 jets and postponed a multi-year production increase for narrow-body aircraft. It cited bottlenecks in engines and other parts, including landing gear, as the reason.

Since June 12, the Paris-based Safran group and the union have been in mediation proceedings, a procedure used in Canada to settle labour disputes. The two sides are far from reaching an agreement. Safran has stated that it has submitted its final offer.

Safran has offered a salary increase of 14.5 percent over three years, while workers represented by the Confederation des syndicats nationaux union are demanding a pay rise estimated at 22 percent.

“We have demands that we have announced from the beginning,” said local union leader Michael Durand.

He said the union has asked Quebec’s labour ministry to investigate the plant and determine whether it also uses non-managers and non-union workers to make parts. Quebec law allows managers to work during a strike.

Safran said the company’s offer was competitive given the practices of other aerospace companies in the Montreal area.

Christian Scherer, who took over the management of Airbus’ aircraft manufacturing division in January, told the “Hamburger Abendblatt” that the supply of engines, landing gear and cabin components were the biggest problem areas.

Safran workers are producing parts for assembling landing gear for Airbus’ A320 family at a rate of about 10 to 14 units per week, Durand said. Other Safran factories are also producing the same parts.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Seattle; Editing by Rod Nickel)