(Toronto) The Unifor union is preparing to begin negotiations with Stellantis after workers at General Motors Canada voted 80.5% for a tentative agreement over the weekend.
Although the union has not yet announced a specific start date, the president of Local 444 which covers the Stellantis plant in Windsor, Dave Cassidy, indicated that he plans to sit down with the national committee to Unifor and the company on Tuesday.
Unifor will seek acceptance of the terms it set from Ford Motor, and later GM, but Mr. Cassidy indicated he would seek more from Stellantis.
“At our members meeting, members were not happy with the model agreement in place,” he said.
“Our members decide whether it’s a good deal or not, so we definitely have some work to do. »
Mr. Cassidy declined to identify specific areas in which he will seek to make progress, and also highlighted the significant gains made in contracts already concluded with the other two automakers.
“This is the best deal I’ve seen in 30 years delivered to members. »
The contract includes base hourly wage increases of nearly 20% for production workers and 25% for skilled trades, a shorter period before workers reach the highest wage level, improvements to pensions and two new paid holidays, among other gains.
However, Ford workers only voted 54% for the deal, and skilled trades members in Oakville and Windsor did not vote for the deal.
Larry Savage, a social studies professor at Brock University, said he believes the union stepped up its efforts after Ford’s vote to convince its members of the benefits of the deal.
GM’s vote also benefited from the fact that a significant portion of the 4,300 workers are recent hires, who will particularly benefit from the higher salary floor and access to seniority, he said.
GM also only agreed to these terms after a workers’ strike began last week. The work stoppage lasted only about 12 hours, which also likely helped support the deal, Savage estimated.
“I do think the psychological effect of the short strike played a big role in getting more yes votes. […] You are more likely to support a deal if you went on strike to get it. »
The expert, however, expects it to be more difficult to convince Stellantis, which has more than 8,200 workers in Canada, to accept the negotiation model.
Unifor President Lana Payne will also face the added challenge of competing with Cassidy, against whom she ran for national leadership.
“I think it will be much more difficult for the union to get the model at Stellantis than at General Motors. And I think there’s no question that Mr. Cassidy is the wild card here,” Mr. Savage said.
Mr. Cassidy, however, recalled that the negotiations were not the business of a single person, but rather a matter of listening to the members and ensuring that we obtain an agreement that the members will support.
“It’s not about me, Dave Cassidy. This isn’t about Lana Payne. This union is bigger than any one person,” he said.
“That is, we need to get down to business, listen to our members and make sure that we come back with the deal that our members want. »
