Unifor reaches tentative deal with Stellantis, ending brief strike at Ontario plants
Posted October 30, 2023 12:13 am.
Last Updated October 30, 2023 9:26 am.
A brief strike has ended at three Ontario Stellantis plants after the union representing Canadian auto workers reached a tentative deal with the U.S. automaker.
Unifor announced just after 7:30 a.m. Monday morning that a tentative agreement would bring an end to the strike action at all its facilities after around 8,200 workers walked off the job at 11:59 p.m. Sunday.
The workers at plants in Brampton, Etobicoke and Windsor went on strike and began picketing early Monday after talks between the union and automaker failed to produce an agreement by the 11:59 p.m. deadline. They got word they were heading back to work just seven-and-a-half hours later.
Unifor has not revealed any details of the new agreement, only confirming a tentative deal had been reached.
The union has been negotiating with Stellantis since Oct. 18 after reaching agreements at both Ford Motor Co. and General Motors. Unifor did strike at GM for 13 hours following the expiration of their strike deadline on Oct. 10.
On Friday, Unifor National President Lana Payne said progress at Stellantis had been slow after the company put forth concessions on the pattern deal established with the other two automakers. The union said it was seeking specifics from the company on its electric vehicle plans for the Brampton Assembly Plant as well as greater clarity on product planning for the Windsor and Etobicoke plants.
It was the first autoworkers strike at Stellantis – whose brands include Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge – since 1986, when the two sides were known as the Canadian Auto Workers Union and Chrysler Corp., respectively.
