Detroit’s 3 automakers began contract negotiations Wednesday with Unifor, Canada’s auto workers’ union, and its executives pledged to fight for job-creating products.
General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV operate only in 4 meeting stations in Canada after GM transferred its Oshawa meeting to a stamping plant. But Unifor’s fight to make new cars is likely to turn into a deceptive global pandemic, a year after United Auto Workers secured nearly $20 billion in investments for U.S. auto plants, its 4-year pacts with automakers.
“Addressing the product will be the key,” said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, hard work and economics at the Center for Automotive Research. “It is much harder to get to the table a year after the UAW did so because of its position in the product cycle. If the UAW comes in and enters into very attractive agreements that can absorb products last year, what have automakers done? assign to Canada? “
But Canada, Unifor President Jerry Dias said at a news convention Wednesday, is “an amazing market” for automakers. And he expects there to be products in his portfolios for Canada.
The union intends to fight for investment despite a COVID-19 pandemic that has charged companies billions of dollars in potential revenue. Automakers have lost 8 weeks of production in North America, however, Unifor still aims to drive wage increases and decrease the 10-year expansion era that a Canadian employee wants to earn the most productive wages.
“This is an industry that has been printing cash for ten years and I’m going to allow COVID to be an excuse to give our members the increases they deserve,” Dias said.
Uniform contract, which expires at 11:59 p.m. On September 21, it covers 17,000 autoArray 3,600 fewer than contract negotiations in 2016, due to relief in Detroit Three Production in Canada.
“As we participate in the negotiations here with the Detroit Three, we have serious and serious demanding situations in all operations,” Dias said. Ford has not announced a new program for its Oakville plant; The union wants a “significant” investment at the FCA plant in Brampton; and two cars will be added to the FCA’s Windsor ensemble to remember the third shift.
With GM, the union is involved in the expiration of two powertrain systems at the St. Catharines plant. And “the elephant in the room” is GM’s vast facility in Oshawa: Unifor had agreed in the past to build a stamping and subassembly plant instead of allowing the manufacturer to close it completely, saving three hundred of the 2,600 jobs.
“We want a product now,” Dias said. “The solution for Oshawa could be a long-term electric vehicle, but, frankly, we want anything today, whether it’s an SUV or a van. We want anything today to restart the meeting line and get other people back work. “
Production at the Oshawa plant ended in December 2019 and is now being switched to a stamping facility. Some of the assets will be switched to autonomous vehicle testing.
While fighting GM to keep the facets of the Oshawa plant alive, Unifor also had to negotiate with Fiat Chrysler, which interrupted the third shift at the Windsor meeting plant after production of the Dodge Grand Caravan truck was completed. This resolution eliminated approximately 1,500 jobs.
“The CFA remains committed to Canada and we look forward to negotiating a fair deal that will allow us to continue investing in our future, while creating opportunities for our employees, their families and our communities,” Jacqueline Oliva, head of human resources at FCA Canada, said in a statement.
“We have the largest hourly workforce and in 2019 FCA Canada produced the maximum cars of the 3 domestic automakers. As the automotive industry continues to replace rapidly, our purpose in this negotiating circular is to achieve a labor agreement that allows the company to be competitive. »
Meanwhile, the long term of Ford’s only meeting facility in Canada is in jeopardy, as the automaker halts production of the SUV Edge after the existing generation style expires in 2023.
“Ford of Canada and Unifor will have to work collaboratively to ensure that we remain operationally competitive in a context of intense global competition,” Rose Pao, Director of Communications at Ford Canada, said in a statement. “We will ask our painters to paint with us to help shape this new truth together.”
Unifor told Ford that “if there is no solution for Oakville, there will be no agreement,” Dias said.
Car personnel covered through the agreement come with 1,600 employees per hour at GM Canada’s propulsion plant in St. Catharines, Oshawa products and prints, and a portion distribution center in Ontario; 5,370 employees at the Ford assembly plant in Oakville, Essex engine plant, Windsor engine plant and portion supply plant; 8,444 in the FCA Windsor assembly, the Brampton assembly and stamping facility and the Etobicoke smelting plant.
GM’s meeting facility in Canada, CAMI, is covered through another agreement with Unifor that expires next year.
In this negotiating package, the Detroit automaker will focus on the flexibility of paint regulations in its facility. At the time of the 2016 negotiations, GM was the leading company in the style negotiation process. GM staff in Canada have ratified a four-year contract with 65% of members voting in favor of the deal, which included 2% pay increases at the time and in 2019, a C$6,000 signing bond and $554 million in plant investments.
“GM Canada is looking ahead to negotiate contracts with Unifor,” Matt Hough, general manager of Human Resources and Labor Relations, said in a statement. “Our purpose is to conclude a new fair and flexible four-year agreement for the 1,600 workers represented at our St. Catharines propulsion plant, new OEM and Oshawa stamped products, and the Woodstock Parts Distribution Center.
Unifor will be a leading company to negotiate on the Labor Day holiday on September 7.
Publishers Breana Noble and Jordyn Grzelewkski contributed
Twitter: @bykaleahall