(Toronto) The close vote of support from Unifor members for the proposed contract with Ford Motor in Canada has some experts saying that reaching deals with General Motors and Stellantis could prove more difficult.
Unifor members at Ford voted 54% for a new three-year collective agreement over the weekend, a stark contrast to the 81% support received for the previous contract.
The union stressed that the agreement would set the pattern for contract negotiations at GM and Stellantis, but Steven Tufts, a labor expert at York University, noted that the relatively weak support raised questions about whether workers would accept this. model.
The Ford deal already marks notable gains for the union, including a 20% base pay increase for production workers, a return to defined benefit pension plans and commitments related to electric vehicles, but it comes in a context of pressures linked to the rising cost of living.
“No one is saying that significant gains have not been made, but these significant gains have been made at a time when workers’ expectations have increased, and in a period of rising inflation,” Tufts said.
It also comes as U.S. auto workers are demanding much more, including wage increases of at least 30 percent, which is also likely to have had an impact on the vote at Ford, Stephanie Ross said. associate professor at McMaster University.
“Even though the context of American auto workers is very different, their ambition and more activist approach has affected Canadian auto workers’ perceptions of what they could or should do,” he said. she explained in an email.
“Extending this model to Canada could prove more difficult than expected, especially if workers are divided on this agreement,” said Ms. Ross.
In announcing the agreement, Unifor welcomed the results, insisting that the wage increases achieved were the highest in the history of auto sector negotiations in Canada and that the agreement met all of the union’s key priorities.
The contract also includes productivity and quality bonuses of $10,000 for full-time employees and $4,000 for part-time employees, the reactivation of a cost-of-living allowance to help combat inflation, better health benefits and the addition of two new paid holidays.
