Canadian auto workers, GM reach tentative pact
Agreement ends 13-hour strike
TORONTO — General Motors and the union representing Canadian auto workers reached a tentative contract agreement Tuesday afternoon, ending a strike that began about 13 hours earlier.
About 4,300 workers at two GM factories and a parts warehouse, who walked off the job at midnight, returned to work Tuesday afternoon and will vote on the three-year deal later.
Lana Payne, president of the Unifor union, said in a statement that when faced with the strike, GM had no choice but to follow a pattern agreement reached earlier with Ford.
She says the deal includes “all items that the company had initially fought us on such as pensions, retiree income supports, and converting full-time temporary workers into permanent employees over the life of the agreement.
GM said in a statement that it reached the agreement with Unifor around 1 p.m. Tuesday after workers went on strike at the Ontario facilities just after midnight. The record deal recognizes employee contributions with significant pay and benefit increases and additional job security, the statement said.
The new agreement covers autoworkers at GM’s assembly plant in Oshawa, a powertrain plant in St. Catharines, and a parts distribution center in Woodstock.
The workers struck at GM after Unifor workers ratified a new three-year labor contract with Ford late last month.
The agreement with GM, if ratified by members, would leave only Jeep maker Stellantis without a contract with Unifor.
Unifor said in a prepared statement that the deal includes pay raises of nearly 20 percent for production workers and 25 percent for skilled trades. Workers would get 10 percent in general pay raises in the first year, with 2 percent in the second and 3 percent in the third. The company also agreed to restore cost-of-living pay raises starting in December of 2024. Temporary workers would get pay raises, and those with at least one year of service would get permanent jobs.
Payne said earlier that the union had a lot of bargaining leverage with GM because the factory in Oshawa is working around the clock to build profitable Chevrolet pickups. However, in her remarks to reporters she said “demographics,” presumably of an aging work force, were a major hurdle.
Workers at Ford of Canada ratified a new deal late last month that raises base hourly pay for production workers by almost 20 percent over three years.
Unifor is Canada’s largest private sector union, with 315,000 workers in many industries.