A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

Bombardier and De Havilland Aircraft of Canada (DHC) continue to negotiate with union leaders after some 2,200 workers went on strike Tuesday at the Downsview facilities&nbsp;in Toronto, where&nbsp;the Global series of business jets and the Dash 8 regional turboprop are built.&nbsp;

 


At issue for the members of Local 112 (production and skilled trades workers) and 673 (technical, office, and professional workers) are pensions, use of contractors, and erosion of bargaining unit work, while concerns at De Havilland center on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2021-02-17/de-havilland-pause-dash-8-line-seeks-new-production-site">the future of the Dash 8 program</a>. Bombardier sold the Downsview site to Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2018-05-03/bombardier-move-global-family-production-pearson">in 2018</a>, and both companies plan to depart the facility. Of the total on strike, approximately 1,500 unionized workers equate to about three-quarters of Bombardier's workforce in Toronto, while 700 are DHC employees. DHC and Bombardier maintain&nbsp;separate collective worker agreements, but they expired at the same time.

 


“We will remain at the bargaining table with both companies as the strike action is ongoing,” said Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, the national union that represents both groups. “[We] will continue to make every effort to reach a fair settlement but we have a number of key issues to resolve with both employers.”

 


&nbsp;A&nbsp;Bombardier spokesperson told AIN “the talks continue and we are focused on seeing the process through to an agreement.” The airframer did not discuss the production impact.

 


DCH noted in a statement that it has worked with the union for several weeks to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, but it stressed that any such deal must not only provide sustainable opportunities for union members but reflect the need to transform the company amid current market challenges and a need to vacate the facility.

 


“The sale of the production site by the previous owner Bombardier in 2018 established deadlines by which the runway must be demolished and the aircraft site vacated. Put simply: from the moment of that land sale, aircraft manufacturing at Downsview was on borrowed time,” it said.

 


The manufacturer, which reported earlier this year that it would pause production of the twin-turboprop airliner, added that it intends to be ready to meet new aircraft demand as the industry recovers, but will not rush to a decision on a future production location.

Bombardier, DHC Union Workers Strike in Toronto

Yesterday approximately 2,200 union workers went on strike in Toronto at the Downsview plant used by Bombardier and De Havilland Aircraft Canada.

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