Following a short strike, General Motors and Unifor have reached a tentative agreement that will see employees return to work this afternoon.
The deal has to be ratified by members, but the union said GM accepted the pattern agreement “to the letter,” including all items the company had initially fought them on.
Unifor says the agreement provides a base hourly wage increase of nearly 20% for production and 25% for skilled trade employees over the lifetime of the agreement. The union added there will be “general wage increases in each year of the agreement with 10% in year one, 2% in year two, and 3% in year three.” As a result, by the end of the three-year agreement, a top-rate production assembler will be paid $44.52 CAD ($32.75 USD) per hour in addition to a forecasted $1.61 CAD ($1.18 USD) cost of living allowance.
More: Canada’s Unifor Union Goes On Strike Against GM
Furthermore, the wage progression period has been cut in half as employees will now earn top dollar after four years. Temporary part-time and production workers will see their base pay rate climb from $24.26 CAD ($17.85 USD) to $29.67 CAD ($21.82 USD) per hour and that will increase to $31.16 CAD ($22.92 USD) per hour by the end of the agreement.
Other highlights include two new paid holidays, pension plan improvements, and sizable bonuses. Speaking of the latter, full-time employees will get a $10,000 CAD ($7,356 USD) bonus while temporary part-time employees will get $4,000 CAD ($2,942 USD).
For their part, GM Canada said “This record agreement, subject to member ratification, recognizes the many contributions of our represented team members with significant increases in wages, benefits and job security while building on GM’s historic investments in Canadian manufacturing.”
