Ford Canada workers accept new 3-year deal that includes 15% wage increase

Unionized workers at Ford Motor Co. facilities in Canada have voted to accept a new three-year contract that will see wages rise 15 per cent over the length of the deal

On Sunday, the union said 54 per cent of those who voted endorsed the proposed collective agreement.

Lana Payne, national president of Unifor, issued a statement saying the deal will mean tremendous gains for autoworkers.

“Your bargaining team pushed Ford of Canada on every front to deliver a contract that fundamentally transforms pension plans, provides protections during the (electric vehicle) transition and includes the highest wage increases in the history of Canadian auto bargaining,” Payne said.

“We know this is a challenging time for all workers and this agreement tackles the affordability issues so many face today.”

The deal includes a 10 per cent wage increase in the first year of the agreement, followed by increases of two per cent and three per cent for the second and third years, in what union officials say is the single largest negotiated general wage increase in Unifor and CAW history.

The deal also includes a 2.75 per cent adjustment on top of the 10 per cent wage increase in the first year and a 2.5 per cent adjustment on top of the three per cent increase in year three for skilled trades.

There is also a $10,000 Productivity and Quality bonus paid to each full-time employee once the deal is ratified reflecting work done by members over the prior agreement – the largest P&Q bonus the union has ever negotiated.

Along with higher wages, the union had said the transition to electric vehicles and pensions and job security were key areas of focus during the bargaining process.

Unifor says it achieved improved pension security for all its members, noting that there have been no negotiated increases to pension at Ford since 2005, and a package of special EV transition measures, specific to the Oakville assembly complex, which will be in effect during the upcoming retool period and up to eight months after layoff.

The three-year tentative deal covers more than 5,600 workers at Ford’s Oakville assembly plant, Annex and Essex engine plants in Windsor, Ont., along with its parts distribution centres in Brampton, Paris and Casselman in Ontario and in Leduc, Alta.

The formal negotiations between Unifor and the Detroit Three opened on Aug. 10 in Toronto and the union says it plans to use the Ford deal as a blueprint agreement in talks with workers at General Motors and Stellantis.

The tentative deal with Ford comes as the United Auto Workers in the U.S. began its walkout more than a week ago by striking three assembly plants – one each at GM, Ford and Stellantis. In expanding the strike on Friday, the UAW struck only the parts-distribution centers of GM and Stellantis. Ford was spared from the latest walkouts because of progress that company has made in negotiations with the union, said UAW President Shawn Fain.

Striking the parts centers is designed to turn up pressure on the companies by hurting dealers who service vehicles made by GM and Stellantis, the successor to Fiat Chrysler. Service shops are a profit center for dealers, so the strategy could prove effective. Millions of motorists depend on those shops to maintain and repair their cars and trucks.

Files from The Canadian Press and Associated Press were used in this report