For over a month, a landing gear factory in Laval has prevented all its workers from returning to work. Héroux-Devtek imposed this lockout on July 9, following a 24-hour strike by the CSN union members. They wanted a wage catch-up in the face of inflation and years of contracts favourable to the company, which is now posting record profits. All this while controversy looms: the aerospace company earns a large share of its profits from the military sector (including F-35s from Lockheed Martin).
Martin Pinard, a longtime employee, told The North Star that over the years, they have made many sacrifices to meet the employer’s demands, who claimed to want to grow the company:
“We reopened collective agreements to give a little more, to be really at the cutting edge of technology. They expanded to be able to make landing gear for F-15s. When the pandemic hit, they renegotiated contracts upward with Lockheed Martin, with Bell Textron, or other clients. We got nothing.”
The factory workers now face a wage gap of $14 per hour compared to employees at similar companies like Safran. They even lag by $8 per hour compared to the same company’s plant in Longueuil.
Patrick Pagé, a machinist employed for 15 years, supports his colleague’s remarks: “We took wage cuts over a long period to allow the factory to revamp and attract clients.”
Growth in the Military Sector
Héroux-Devtek is the world’s third-largest manufacturer of landing gear, offering products and services in both civil and defense aviation. According to annual reports from recent years, the defense sector accounts for 60 to 70% of the company’s revenue.
As global tensions rise and the increasing risk of armed conflicts between major powers grows, Héroux-Devtek does not hide its satisfaction:
“Héroux-Devtek continues to be strategically positioned to capitalize on current defence programs …The fighter and attack aircraft segment is experiencing robust growth, driven by aging fleets, global tensions, extensive aircraft utilization, and delayed ramp-ups of programs like the F-35.”
The F-35 has recently become the most mentioned fighter jet in the media due to its role in the systematic bombing of Gaza. Declassified UK, one of the most renowned investigative journalism media in the United Kingdom, directly linked the use of the F-35 to the massacre of the al-Mawasi camp by Israel, causing 300 injuries and the deaths of 90 civilians.
This year, the company reported a net profit of $10 million compared to $4.6 million last year. In one year, sales increased by 23.4% in the military sector and 20.7% in civil aviation. In February 2025, the company was purchased by Platinum Equity, a U.S. private equity firm, for $1.35 billion.
“We had a record year last year, that’s why the Americans bought us, because we’re making bacon, you know? But now, with everything we gave, it lowered our purchasing power by 18 to 20%,” adds Pinard.
Another worker, who prefers to remain anonymous, told The North Star that the situation cannot be explained solely by the deterioration of working conditions. According to him, the company’s profits were also inflated by government subsidies paid during the pandemic and investments by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ). It is also these gains that allowed the company to be sold to American interests. On Héroux-Devtek’s side, however, the workers’ demand for wage catch-up is considered “unrealistic.”
Not to mention that on the day of the lockout announcement, management told major media outlets that the average machinist salary at Héroux-Devtek was $86,000 per year. Yet, workers and union representatives confirmed that a machinist’s salary ranged from $48,000 to $69,000 per year, well below salaries in the aerospace sector.
According to Pinard, “the $86,000 mentioned in the paper isn’t true because people do overtime. There are about thirty people missing on the floor… You know? Working Saturdays and all that.”
At the time of writing, neither La Presse nor Radio-Canada had corrected this misinformation.
A Difficult Balance to Achieve
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, the CSN has called for an immediate ceasefire, the halt of Canadian military exports, direct and indirect, to Israel, and the lifting of Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Presumably, the landing gear for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets are among the exports the CSN wants stopped.
Asked by L’Étoile du Nord about this contradiction, Bertrand Guibord, president of the CSN’s Montreal Metropolitan Central Council, replied:
“As a union organization, we work to improve workers’ conditions regardless of the sector. Currently, the 100 Héroux-Devtek employees are suffering an unacceptable lockout, and all our energy is focused on finding the best possible agreement to improve their daily work lives. We continue to fight for a society that grants better working conditions to workers while promoting values of peace and social justice.”
On their side, the activist organization Labour for Palestine believes this contradiction is not without solution. They support Héroux-Devtek workers’ struggle and the importance of their work in the civilian sector, while encouraging resistance to military production.
Labour for Palestine is currently running a campaign called No Hot Cargo. In an interview with The North Star, its representative, Bishara, said he wants to rally trade unions to this initiative. He proposes fighting for collective agreements that include a clause allowing workers to refuse handling any “hot cargo” related to supporting the Israeli occupation in Palestine.
Bishara explains: “First and foremost, we must support workers in their struggle for better wages and working conditions. Through that solidarity, we can begin to build trust and bridge the gap between employer-driven exploitation and the broader imperialist pursuit of profit and genocide abroad. If workers are not supported in their push for fair compensation and conditions, they won't be in a position to secure something as substantial as a hot cargo clause.”Blocking “hot cargo” is not unfamiliar in Canada. In 1979, dockworkers at the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, prevented the export of heavy water to Argentina during its military dictatorship.