While the UAW is busy playing three-way footsie, Canada’s Unifor union is getting things done.
Following the ratification of a new three-year agreement with Ford, GM has been tapped as the next negotiation target. Discussions kicked off on September 26 and the union is looking to reach an agreement similar to the one they struck with Ford.
As Unifor National President Lana Payne explained, “We’ve got an incredibly strong pattern agreement at Ford that will serve us well over the coming years. Our job now is to negotiate that pattern in the form of a renewal collective agreement with General Motors and Stellantis.”
More: Ford Reaches Tentative Agreement With Canada’s Unifor Union
Unifor has approximately 4,300 members who work at Oshawa Assembly, St. Catharines Powertrain, and the Woodstock Parts Distribution Centre. The Oshawa plant builds light- and heavy-duty versions of the Chevrolet Silverado, while the St. Catharines plant churns out the 3.6-liter V6 as well as 5.3- and 6.8-liter V8s. The latter facility also builds the dual-clutch transmission used in the Corvette C8.
Those are pretty important vehicles and Unifor knows it. As Payne stated, “We hold a lot of negotiating leverage with GM” as their “Oshawa facility is working around-the-clock producing very lucrative pickup trucks,” while the St. Catharines plant is a “lynchpin for GM’s North American operations.”
While negotiations just got underway a few days ago, the union has set a deadline of October 9 at 11:59 pm. GM didn’t have much to say about the deadline, but stated “We look forward to working with our Unifor partners to build a competitive future that also recognizes our employees’ contributions to our shared success.”
Ford Agreement Has Pay Increases, Sizable Bonuses, And Plant Investment
Unifor has previously said the GM talks won’t be easy, but they’re looking for wage increases, reduced “grow-in” times for new employees, and sizeable productivity and quality bonuses. In Ford’s case, the latter is a $10,000 CAD ($7,364 USD) bonus for full-time employees and a $4,000 CAD ($2,945 USD) bonus for temporary part-time employees.
Speaking of the Ford agreement, it will see the base hourly wage increase nearly 20% for production employees and 25% for skilled workers over its lifetime. There will also be “general wage increases in each year of the agreement with 10% in year one, 2% in year two and 3% in year three.”
The agreement also called for reactivation of the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), investment in the Essex Engine Plant, and “special EV transition measures” for members at Oakville Assembly. While that’s just a glimpse at what’s in the contract, the union noted “Hourly wages for production workers at Ford of Canada is now $11.00 per hour (35%) higher than comparable U.S. autoworkers at Ford.”
