Steven Tufts, an associate professor at York University, said he believes Unifor President Lana Payne wouldn't risk recommending an agreement unless Ford made a substantive offer.
TORONTO — The union representing workers at Ford Motor Co. facilities in Canada says its tentative deal with the company includes"transformative" gains, with one observer suggesting significant wage increases are likely.
The three-year tentative deal covers more than 5,600 workers at Canadian Ford facilities. It includes members at Ford's Oakville, Ont., assembly plant, Annex and Essex engine plants in Windsor, Ont., along with its parts distribution centres in Brampton and Paris, Ont., and Casselman in Leduc, Alta."This painstaking work has resulted in fundamental, transformative gains that addressed our core priorities of pensions, wages and the EV transition," it reads.
Tufts said the things to watch now are whether union rank-and-file will ratify the deal at a time when union workers have high expectations for bargaining gains and, crucially, if Payne can repeat any successes from the tentative agreement at GM and Stellantis. The union then named Ford as its target for bargaining on Aug. 29, focusing on negotiations with that company to create a blueprint agreement to be used in talks with workers at General Motors and Stellantis."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," Unifor Ford master bargaining chair John D'Agnolo said in a statement.
Dennis Darby of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters welcomed the tentative agreement between Unifor and Ford.