Union defiant as auto talks start
TORONTO — Negotiations with the Detroit Three automakers were launched Wednesday with Unifor national president Jerry Dias warning the union won’t make any concessions even if there is a “second wave” of coronavirus infection.
Union representatives met the Canadian arms of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles FCA, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. to start negotiating wages and benefits for the next four years.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the employment landscape was in focus, after auto sales plummeted this spring during the peak months of the pandemic and production lines stalled as automakers shut down plants.
“Has the pandemic taken some wind out of the sails? Of course it has,” Dias told reporters.
“I’d be naive not to acknowledge that, but it’s a different situation today than in 2008, 2009.
“The crash of 2008 and the impending bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler was very much based on an entire collapse of the banking industry started with Lehman Brothers. So when people were losing their houses, they certainly weren’t buying cars.”
These days, dealerships are more full than people were expecting as consumers are nervous about taking public transit, Ubers and hopping on trains,” Dias said.
“And so I’m hoping that we get out of this crisis a lot quicker than anybody had anticipated.”
Matt Hough, general director of human resources and labour relations for GM Canada, said the company’s focus is to reach a four-year agreement that is “fair” and “flexible.”
Despite confidence in the auto companies’ balance sheets, Dias said the industry as a whole remains “in peril,” citing lack of investments in electric vehicles as one example.
He noted that the existing collective bargaining agreements, which expire on Sept. 21, cover 3,600 fewer workers than when they were negotiated last time after downsizing at several plants, notably in Oshawa, Ont.