Richard Lautens/Toronto Star/Getty Images
Lana Payne speaks to delegates after being elected as the new president of UNIFOR, Canada’s largest private sector union, at the Metro Toronto Convention Center on August 10, 2022.
CNN –
Members of the Canadian auto workers union Unifor ratified a tentative three-year agreement with Ford on Sunday after the union reached a last-minute agreement last week to avert a possible strike.
The deal, which Unifor called “extraordinary,” was unanimously approved by local union leadership on Friday, the union said in a news release. But despite this approval, only 54% of rank-and-file members voted to ratify the agreement.
Union leadership said the contract was the best deal they could get for members.
“This was an extraordinary round of collective bargaining that took place at an extraordinary time,” union leadership wrote in a joint message to members included in the bargaining report. “Autoworkers, like all workers, are facing an affordability crisis and rising costs. High interest rates increase economic uncertainty for families. We are still suffering from a devastating pandemic and devastating supply shortages that have impacted our jobs. Amid these challenges, a century-long transformation of the automotive sector is occurring that, if done right, will expand Canada’s industrial footprint.”
“Our auto workers represented by Unifor are the heart of Ford of Canada,” Bev Goodman, CEO of Ford of Canada, said in a statement. “This agreement invests in our talented and dedicated employees.”
The terms of the contract could impact negotiations to end the United Auto Workers’ strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. At least it raises hope that a deal with Ford could be near.
Unifor was able to win some key demands that Ford and the other automakers have not yet agreed to in discussions with the UAW, including the return of a pension plan — rather than just 401(k) retirement accounts — for Unifor members who were hired by Ford in recent years .
The UAW strike, which began Sept. 15 with 12,700 members, aims to restore traditional pension plans for employees hired since 2007.
While UAW President Shawn Fain said Friday that his union had made progress in negotiations with Ford, he made no mention of progress on the pension issue.
However, as Ford makes progress in its negotiations on other issues, the UAW continued to limit its strike at Ford to an assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan, while expanding the strike at GM and Stellantis to include those companies’ parts and distribution centers.
“We want to recognize that Ford is serious about reaching an agreement,” Fain said Friday.
The UAW said it had no comment on the terms of the deal between Unifor and Ford this weekend.
In addition to the pension improvements, the Unifor agreement addresses Unifor’s core priorities, including a 10% wage increase in the first year of the agreement, effective September 25, followed by 2% and 3% increases in the next two years of the contract.
The agreement also eliminates health insurance deductibles for all current and former employees.
The deal affects nearly 5,700 union members, including 5,300 workers at three plants and nearly 400 workers at three distribution centers and two offices. If they had gone on strike, it could have affected production of some of Ford’s key models built in U.S. plants, as two engine plants in Canada produce the V-8 engines used in Ford F-150 pickups and Mustangs are used.
The deal will also serve as a blueprint for Unifor’s model negotiations and could pave the way for new contracts with Stellantis and GM. Unifor said it will announce soon whether it will next negotiate with GM or Stellantis.
This report has been updated with additional information