Ford Motor Company on Tuesday reached a tentative agreement with unionized Canadian autoworkers, avoiding a strike in Canada as one unfolds among American autoworkers.
The carmaker’s contract with Unifor, a Canadian trade union that represents autoworkers, was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 18. After receiving a “substantive offer” from Ford just minutes before the deadline, the union decided to extend negotiations for a 24-hour period.
Union officials announced Tuesday night that the tentative agreement reached has been endorsed by the bargaining committee, and “addresses all of the items raised by members in preparation for this round of collective bargaining.”
Last month, Unifor identified Ford as its target for negotiations and a potential strike, and planned to use their final agreement to later establish new contracts with General Motors and Stellantis. The Canadian union extended its contracts with GM and Stellantis amid the negotiations with Ford.
About 5,600 Unifor-represented autoworkers were preparing to strike against Ford as early as Tuesday morning if the contract deadline wasn’t met. Ford has one assembly plant in Canada located outside of Toronto with 3,400 union workers, two engine plants in Windsor where about 1,700 Unifor members work, and four parts distribution centers.
View Unifor’s website here for the latest information.
Unifor’s contract with Ford was set to expire less than one week after the automaker’s contract expired with the United Auto Workers union in the U.S. There, the UAW declared a strike last week against each of the Big Three for the first time in history, opting not to extend any contracts or name a target among the companies.
About 13,000 of the UAW’s 146,000 autoworkers were striking as of Wednesday at three facilities: the GM Wentzville Assembly, the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex, and the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant (final assembly and paint only). More UAW members may be called on to strike as early as Friday, however, after the union president threatened expanded strikes if talks don’t make “serious progress” by Friday, Sept. 22.
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