Workers on strike call for ‘fair wages’ at MDA space robotics centre in Brampton

Dozens of workers at a Brampton-based high-tech space robotics manufacturer are on strike, saying the company won’t negotiate wages and cost of living protection.

The union representing 50 workers at space tech company MDA Space’s $100-million global headquarters and space robotics facility in Brampton said negotiations with the company hit a strike deadline on Monday following weeks of negotiations.

Unifor says workers have asked the company to move on “core economic issues.” Unifor Local 673 plant chairperson at MDA Sebastian Selvagio said workers are fighting for “fair wages, reasonable cost of living protection, and decent pensions,” even in the midst of a nationwide affordability crisis.

“All of us at MDA have been part of some of the most important and cherished scientific and technological projects in the last half-century which is what makes this strike so painful for us,” Selvagio said in a statement.

MDA is an international space mission partner, and its Brampton headquarters features state-of-the-art labs, manufacturing, R&D, assembly and test facilities. The MDA Centre of Excellence houses a unique Space Robotics Mission Control Centre, enabling MDA to provide critical on-orbit operations capabilities to commercial and government customers worldwide.

The union says an agreement with MDA expired in 2023, the same year the company earned more than $807 million in revenue, including from government contracts like the Canadarm3 project.

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The province also helped with the development of MDA’s Brampton facility with a $25 million investment.

The union says it wants to see “a fair settlement” and is willing to negotiate, but says MDA “has given no indication that it will return to the bargaining table.”

A spokesperson for MDA said the company “remains open to constructive discussions” and to finding with “a path to an agreement that is acceptable to both parties.”

“These collective bargaining discussions are specific to MDA Space employees represented by Unifor and associated with the company’s Brampton facility and do not affect other MDA Space locations or operations,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Insauga.com.