MONTREAL, March 29 (Reuters) - Productivity has slipped

at a Montreal-area Airbus factory trying to ramp up

assembly of the planemaker's smallest commercial jet, as workers

consider a new contract offer, according to sources and a union

memo sent on Friday.

Airbus and union negotiators failed to reach a negotiated

deal this week following intensive talks, but a second company

offer will be considered by the estimated 1,300 workers on April

7, according to the memo seen by Reuters.

Details of the new offer, made after workers overwhelmingly

rejected an earlier one this month, were not available.

Assembly workers at the plant, which makes A220 jets, were

recently told by the company that overtime work was cut and

productivity was down due to the talks and supply chain snags,

three sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters.

The European planemaker is trying to grow production of the

money-losing A220 jets, which have roughly 110 to 130 seats, to

a combined 14 planes a month in 2026, spread between the factory

in Mirabel, Quebec, and a plant in Mobile, Alabama. That would

be up from six a month in December 2022, the latest publicized

rate.

"Despite a certain slowdown in productivity felt recently,

we are maintaining our overall ramp-up target of 14 aircraft a

month in 2026," a spokesperson for Airbus's Canadian division

said in a statement. "We have taken measures to recover

efficiency."

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace

Workers union (IAM), which wants higher wages and better

conditions for the workers at the Airbus facility in Mirabel,

said earlier this month it would start pressure tactics that

would slow production after workers gave strike authorization.

Unions have recently capitalized on tight labor markets and

high inflation to win hefty contracts at the bargaining table,

with airline pilots, autoworkers and others scoring big raises

in 2023.

The Airbus talks in Canada are being watched by IAM leaders

in Washington state, where Boeing's ( BA ) production workers

want wage increases exceeding 40% over three to four years, a

spokesperson for the union's U.S. local there said.

In Montreal, the local representing the Airbus workers said

negotiations are continuing, without offering further details.

Workers have held noisy disturbances at the factory in

Mirabel.

"Recently, some employees have put forth their point of view

and we heard them," Airbus said. "We remain committed to

reconciling the interests of our employees with the economic

imperatives of the A220."