Unifor has reached a tentative agreement with Ford Motor Company, which covers more than 5,600 members at Canadian Ford facilities.
The tentative agreement occurred on Tuesday (Sept. 19) night.
Recommended Videos
“We believe that this tentative agreement, endorsed by the entire master bargaining committee, addresses all of the items raised by members in preparation for this round of collective bargaining,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “We believe that this agreement will solidify the foundations on which we will continue to bargain gains for generations of autoworkers in Canada.”
The collective agreement between Unifor and Ford expired Monday at 11:59 p.m.
Reports indicate that the new tentative agreement is speculated to cover members of Unifor Locals 707, 200, 584, 1087, 240, and 1324 at Ford’s Oakville Assembly Plant, Annex, and Essex Engine Plants in Windsor, Ontario, in addition to Parts Distribution Centres in Bramalea, Paris and Casselman in Ontario and Leduc, Alberta.
“In addition to reaching a master agreement, our members at each Ford location face their own unique set of issues that needed to be resolved by our committees at the bargaining table,” said Unifor Ford Master Bargaining Chair John D’Agnolo. “This agreement makes the kind of gains our members need today and adds greater financial security for the future.”
The union opened Formal negotiations with the Detroit Big Three automakers on Aug. 10 in Toronto; on Aug. 29, Unifor selected Ford as the target company, as their focus to negotiate as Ford set the target agreement for the union’s 18,000 members.
“I want to thank our bargaining team, who overcame immense and unprecedented challenges to deliver on our members’ priorities,” Payne said.
Details of the agreement will be presented to Unifor members at Ford in ratification meetings, which will be held in the near future.
Read: Talks between UAW, Detroit Big Three may be ongoing, but progress is not being made
More: UAW: More workers to strike if ‘serious progress’ isn’t made with Big Three by Friday
