Montreal union members at MDA – the Canadian company confirmed less than two weeks ago as the probable builder of the Canadarm3 space robotic arm – have voted 87 percent in favour of a strike mandate.
The Space Systems Engineers and Scientists Association cites “arbitrary and abusive practices”, job insecurity and “loss of expertise” among the issues facing union members at the Canadian company, which is famed for its work on Canadarm robotics and the RADARSAT satellite series.
About 270 of the union’s members are at MDA in the Montreal area; the company has more than 1,900 employees overall.
The union alleges that expertise, specialization and seniority of employees are not used as metrics for maintaining employment during recent rounds of downsizing at MDA, allegations that MDA said it would not respond to publicly as union negotiations are still underway.
“Negotiations with the association … are currently ongoing and in respect of the bargaining process, we will not comment on the details in public,” an MDA spokesperson told SpaceQ in an e-mail statement from the company. “We regard recent public statements from the association as part of a negotiation strategy; they do not accurately represent the company’s position.”
The association told SpaceQ it is worried about losing its Canadarm and RADARSAT expertise at MDA in the coming years. It should be noted that MDA’s Robotics and Space Operations is based in Brampton and is not affected by the Montreal strike mandate.
“For many years, MDA’s decision-making about who to layoff has been arbitrary. But during the past three years, it has been abusive,” said Isabelle Verge, a spokesperson for the union at communications agency Tact Conseil, in an e-mail to SpaceQ. (The union referred all queries to Tact.)
While none of the union’s members have been laid off during the novel coronavirus pandemic that hit Canada in March, Verge added, members are concerned in general about MDA’s employment practices. The Canadian economy is expected to enter a recession in the coming months due to worldwide quarantine restrictions associated with containing the pandemic.
“We are especially concerned for our members who have dedicated most or all of their career to helping MDA achieve its world-class status,” Verge said. “These specialized workers will have a difficult time finding equivalent employment in Canada if they are laid off.”
A review of news sources suggests that MDA went through reductions of employment in 2012 and 2018 at the least. The association said it has been without a labour agreement since April 2019, and that 20 union-represented individuals lost their jobs during the past year. Employment agencies are being used to at least temporarily fill some of these lost positions, the union added, which leads to worries about union members losing their edge.
MDA is currently on the verge of getting a big contract that would push Canadian aerospace into a new era of Moon exploration, should NASA continue its human Moon program at the same pace.
Less than two weeks ago, the Canadian government said it intends to sign a contract with MDA to build Canadarm3 – a successor to Canadarm and Canadarm2 – for an amount not yet disclosed. Canadarm was built under the leadership of Spar Aerospace, whose robotics division was sold in 1999 to MDA.
MDA subsequently led the build of Canadarm2, the robotic “helper” hand Dextre, and the Mobile Base System used for robotics work on the International Space Station. The robotics were installed on station in the 2000s and are used frequently today by astronauts and ground controllers, including in two NASA spacewalks this past week to upgrade the space station’s batteries.
Canadarm and Canadarm2’s contributions alone to space development cannot be overstated; Canadarm was used for space shuttle satellite retrievals and spacewalks, among numerous activities, while Canadarm2’s technology was part of the critical path to building the ISS. Some maintenance activities on station are done with Dextre, using ground controllers based at the Canadian Space Agency in Saint-Hubert, Que.
Canadarm3 is slated as a vital part of the NASA Lunar Gateway space station, including assisting in repairs and maintenance when astronauts are not present. Gateway will be part of the larger space infrastructure supporting the United States’ Artemis human Moon program, which the Trump administration hopes to see landing astronauts on the surface by the end of 2024.
Canadian space robotic technology has also been crucial in helping Canadian astronauts keep flying in space, all the way from then-astronaut Marc Garneau’s first flight in 1984. Today, Canada has an agreement with NASA and other ISS partners to provide robotics and robotics expertise for the International Space Station program, in exchange for flight opportunities and scientific experiments on station. Most recently, this expertise exchange allowed Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques to fly to the ISS in 2018.
RADARSAT, RADARSAT-2 and RADARSAT Constellation Mission are also part of the MDA umbrella of space technology. This series of Earth Observation satellites allows for observations of Canadian regions over time, for aspects such as ice loss and disaster relief. RADARSAT completed its mission in 2012, but RADARSAT-2 (which launched in 2007) and RADARSAT Constellation Mission (a trio of satellites launched in 2019) remain operational today.
Update: The article has been updated to reflect that the MDA quote was from a statement the company provided SpaceQ. As well, MDA’s Robotics and Space Operations is based in Brampton and is not affected by the Montreal strike mandate.