Autoworkers end strike, accept deal with GM Canada

Cami Assembly workers didn’t get the job security commitment from GM Canada they were seeking, but they did receive concessions in a new contract approved Monday that will make it much more expensive for the automaker to close the Ingersoll plant, the plant’s union chairperson said.

“We found a different way to skin a cat. We made it very expensive for them if they want to shut down this plant, in the future,” Mike Van Boekel, chairperson of Local 88, said after the ratification vote in London.

Workers overwhelmingly voted to approve a new collective agreement between Unifor and GM, voting 85.9 per cent in favour of the four-year deal reached Friday.

Though the union didn’t get contract language promising GM will keep production of the Equinox crossover in Ingersoll — a major issue in the 30-day strike — it did win financial commitments that are a powerful deterrent to closure.

The commitments would increase the amount GM would pay to workers if Cami closes to $300 million from $40 million, Van Boekel said.

The additional cost has to do with new contract language, the most significant part of which allows a worker with 28 years experience to be paid until they reach 30 years experience, if a layoff occurs. Unifor workers qualify for full pension with 30 years experience.

The union has more than 1,000 of its 2,800 workers in that category, Van Boekel said.

The deal also gives workers a four-per-cent wage hike and $8,000 in lump sum payments over four years.

It also offers a $6,000 one-time bonus for those working from January to the ratification vote, upon approval of the deal.