Aerospace Council

Unifor Aerospace Council will meet in August in Halifax. Our Local will be participating as member of the Council, with 3 delegates.

Canada’s aerospace industry is an important component in the Canadian manufacturing ecosystem. It is a leader of research and development in the manufacturing sectors. It invests heavily in advanced technologies and materials for use in the defence and space exploration industries that often find a place in consumer markets. Workforce development and planning is critical. Governments must ensure the existing workforce is sufficiently trained for current and future technologies as well as ensuring training capacity is sufficient to meet anticipated growth. Capitalizing on Canadian skills and capabilities is crucial and can be done by ensuring procurement of government, military and emergency response aircraft are filled by Canadian companies with the skills and expertise to meet tactical requirements. Governments at the federal and provincial levels need to maximize returns on current R&D investments. Just as important is expanding both the funding amounts available and the scope of eligible activities to develop the technology that will sustain and grow the aerospace industry while supporting the air transport sector to transition to greener, cleaner travel.

All of these goals must be brought under the umbrella of a National Aerospace Industrial Strategy to ensure the industry continues to get even stronger with high quality employment, a strong and resilient supply chain, thriving commercial and defence sectors and multi-stakeholder engagement.

Unifor represents more than 11,000 aerospace workers across Canada performing highly specialized jobs in diverse workplaces and sub-industries including commercial, military and space exploration. Unifor aerospace members are highly skilled and rigorously trained. Unifor members design, build and finish commercial and utility aircraft; build component parts for commercial and defence aircraft; conduct overhaul and maintenance work on civilian, military and government aircraft; design and manufacturing simulators and training devices for a range of commercial and military aircraft and are engaged in the production of satellites and robotics for space exploration. Unifor has 30 bargaining units at 23 employers, making up 3% of Unifor membership. The industry has a fairly high rate of unionization with overall union coverage sitting at about 27%.

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Unifor in the Aerospace Industry

Select Unifor Employers with Approx. # Members

Bombardier Canada 4,000

Pratt & Whitney Canada 2,300

Boeing of Canada 1,050

I.M.P. Group Ltd. 450

Cascade 450

CMC Electronics 400

Magellan Aerospace 320

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