Canada’s trade union Unifor began negotiating with Stellantis on Wednesday after recently reaching deals for its autoworkers with Ford Motor Company and General Motors.
Unlike in the U.S., unionized Canadian autoworkers have taken a pattern bargaining approach with Detroit’s Big Three automakers during this year’s contract talks. The union identified Ford as its target for negotiations and a potential strike, and extended its contracts with GM and Stellantis amid negotiations.
Unifor’s talks were set to begin with Jeep maker Stellantis on Wednesday, Oct. 18, giving the sides about a week and a half to reach an agreement by their strike deadline of 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 29.
Leading up to the Stellantis talks, Unifor reached a last-minute deal with Ford in mid-September, averting a strike. Members voted to ratify the new three-year collective agreement with Ford of Canada, which included wage increases and the restoration of a cost of living allowance for more than 5,600 workers.
Canadian autoworkers did briefly strike at two GM factories and one parts warehouse in Ontario before voting to ratify a deal earlier this week. On Oct. 16, about 80% of the approximately 4,300 Canadian GM autoworkers voted in favor of the deal.
Now, autoworkers are beginning negotiations with Stellantis, which has the largest Canadian footprint of the Big Three, and employs more than 8,200 unionized autoworkers. Unifor officials said Tuesday that the union will “focus on Stellantis following the pattern agreement previously set with Ford of Canada and General Motors.”
“We also have the added challenge of negotiating future product commitments for the Brampton Assembly plant that secures a future for all of our Stellantis members in the EV transition,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.
Unifor’s talks coincide with ongoing negotiations between Detroit’s Big Three and the United Auto Workers union. The U.S. union has been on strike at each of the three companies since their contracts expired on Sept. 14. Rather than pattern bargaining, the UAW has been negotiating simultaneously and separately with the automakers, though its list of demands are essentially the same across the board.
Bargaining has progressed for U.S. autoworkers, but both sides say there is still work to be done, and no deals have been reached as of Wednesday.
More: UAW strike: Week 5 sees both friction and hopefulness, Big Three layoffs