Unifor, the union that represents auto workers in Canada, released the details of its tentative agreement with General Motors on Saturday, which is broadly similar to the deal with Ford Motor Co., with some differences.
A key difference is the conversion of full-time temporary employees at GM Canada. These employees would be converted to permanent positions by August 1, 2026, or sooner depending on seniority. GM will then stop using temporary workers as full-time employees. Since Ford didn’t use full-time workers, this wasn’t a problem. If the agreement with GM is ratified, hundreds of full-time temporary workers with more than one year of service will become permanent and receive wage increases and enhanced benefits.
Another difference from Ford’s agreement, which Unifor members ratified on Sept. 24, is the number of retirees who will receive the quarterly general health benefit. This number is significantly higher for GM than for Ford. This is because GM has operated its Oshawa assembly plant for over a century and entire generations have worked there, so the costs associated with this allowance are higher for GM. All data is publicly available.
The GM agreement, which would cover 4,300 members across three GM operations in Canada, would provide an average wage increase of 19.3% for production workers and 25% for tradespeople over the three years of the agreement. It would also reactivate a cost of living adjustment (COLA) and reduce the time it takes for workers to reach peak salary from eight to four years, according to the framework agreement, which was published on Saturday.
The COLA is expected to be $1.61 through the end of the contract and there will be a bonus of $10,000 for full-time members and $4,000 for part-time employees over the life of the contract. Because of the four-year pay progression cut, along with the COLA and bonuses, many GM members will see much higher percentages for their raises, a Unifor source familiar with the contract told the Detroit Free Press. This person was not allowed to be quoted and is therefore not mentioned by name.
For example, the person said the pay increase for a worker with one year of service would rise from $25.75 an hour in the first year to $44.52 an hour in the third year – a 73% wage increase.
The Ford agreement provides for a 15% wage increase over the life of the contract, and employees in a defined contribution pension plan hired on or after November 7, 2016 would be enrolled in a new pension plan in 2025, providing monthly pensions for employees and employees would include surviving spouses. Other improvements include an increase in monthly benefits for employees in a pension plan.
In the GM agreement, employees in a defined contribution pension plan who were hired on or after September 20, 2016 would also be enrolled in a new pension plan that provides monthly pensions for employees and surviving spouses. There are also increases in monthly benefits for pension recipients.
Ratification meetings and votes will be held Saturday and Sunday for members of the Oshawa Assembly Plant, the St. Catharines Propulsion Plant and the GM Woodstock Distribution Center, all in Ontario, the union said. The results will be published on Sunday afternoon. A separate collective agreement applies to members of Unifor Local 88 at the CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario.
GM declined to comment until the results of the ratification vote were released.
Unifor and GM reached a tentative agreement on Tuesday, less than a day after the union launched a strike against the automaker, and as Unifor’s U.S. counterpart – the UAW – continues its own targeted strike strategy in the United States.
More: UAW Strike Reaches 1-Month Mark as Some Workers Grow Impatient: Where Things Stand
The UAW has been striking for a month in a targeted stand-up strike against GM, Ford and Stellantis, the company that makes Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Fiat vehicles. It has expanded the strike three times to all 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution centers, and then on September 29 it expanded to include Ford’s Chicago Assembly and GM’s Lansing Delta Township Assembly plants. On Wednesday, the UAW called for strikes at the Ford truck plant in Kentucky. About 34,000 of the 150,000 UAW auto workers in the United States are on strike.
More: Here are key players negotiating during the UAW strike against the Detroit Three
Contact Jamie L. LaReau: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more about General Motors and subscribe to our automotive newsletter. Become a subscriber.