MONTREAL, March 17 (Reuters) - Canadian Airbus

A220 production workers will initiate pressure tactics on Monday

to slow jet production after voting on Sunday to reject a

proposed contract and give strike authorization, a union

official said.

Around 99% of the estimated 1,000 members represented by the

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

(IAM) who voted rejected the contract, and gave authorization,

said Eric Rancourt, a union spokesperson for the negotiations.

While the authorization mandate does not equate to an actual

strike, the vote signals discontent among the estimated 1,300

Montreal-area workers who produce Airbus's smallest commercial

jet in Mirabel, Quebec.

Union plans to return to bargaining on Monday will coincide

with the start of pressure tactics to slow production, Rancourt

told Reuters after the vote without giving further details.

The negotiations have raised labor tensions at a time when

Airbus is trying to grow production while lowering the cost of

its money-losing A220 jet.

A second assembly line in Mobile, Alabama also produces the

A220.

Airbus's Canadian division said in an emailed statement that

this "initial offer had been made to the union following open

discussions for a few months and taking into consideration the

current context of the A220, which has not yet reached the

break-even point."

Airbus said while the offer was "in line with the current

economical context of the A220 program," it acknowledged the

result of the union vote.

The deal offered approximately a 10% raise over three years,

and would have removed certain retirement benefits.

"We are not going to accept going backwards," Rancourt said.

"We need to improve our working conditions."

The union's contract expired in December.

Unions have recently capitalized on tight labor markets and

inflation to win hefty contracts at the bargaining table, with

airline pilots, autoworkers and others scoring big raises in

2023.

Boeing's ( BA ) unionized production workers in Washington

state have called for wage increases exceeding 40% over three to

four years.