The Unifor auto workers union launched a strike against General Motors Co. at midnight on Monday, joining the United Auto Workers (UAW), which has halted work at select GM, Stellantis and Ford facilities since mid-September. Unifor is Canada's largest private-sector union, representing 315,000 workers.
“This strike is about General Motors stubbornly refusing to meet the pattern agreement. The company knows our members will never let GM break our pattern—not today—not ever,” Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a statement. “The company continues to fall short on our pension demands, income supports for retired workers, and meaningful steps to transition temporary workers into permanent, full-time jobs.”
Unifors’s pattern agreement was established in the ratified collective agreement it made with Ford of Canada in September. Ford agreed to base hourly wage increases of nearly 20% for production workers and 25% for trades, reactivation of the cost-of-living allowance (COLA) and improvements to all pension plans, among other items.
The Unifor strike includes about 4,280 autoworkers at the Oshawa Assembly Complex and CCA Stamped Products, St. Catharines Powertrain Plant, and Woodstock Parts Distribution Centre. Unifor Local 88 members at the CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, are covered by a separate collective agreement and will continue operations, according to the union.
In the United States, the UAW has targeted 20 GM facilities, including two assembly plants and 18 parts distribution facilities. That strike has room to grow with the UAW’s “Stand Up” strategy. The UAW walk out against Detroit’s Big 3 automakers began with a single plant each at GM, Ford and Stellantis, and has grown in increments since.
Meanwhile, Unifor’s more traditional pattern agreement strategy focuses on one automaker at a time. After making its agreement with Ford, Unifor opted to negotiate next with GM. The union’s contract deadline for Stellantis was originally Sept. 18, but has been extended during the GM negotiations.
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