The first round of layoffs at the local Bombardier plant are expected to begin on Friday. Union president Dominic Pasqualino explains the company is finalizing how many employees will be affected this week. It is expected that between 150 and 200 workers “will go this Friday.”
The Unifor official indicates by the end of the year about 450 workers will be laid off because of expiring contracts, bringing the current workforce of close to 700 to about 250. It is something Pasqualino calls “devastating.”
He is warning unless the company can secure some new contracts “at a rapid pace,” by this time next year there will be no work at the facility.
Company officials say the decision to shed half of their workforce is due to the cyclical nature of their business and ramping down of two of their major projects for the provincial agency Metrolinx and the Toronto Transit Commission.
