Unifor ratifies GM Canada deal with 80.5% of voters in favor

Unifor members at General Motors Canada voted this weekend to ratify a tentative agreement with the automaker secured last week after a 12-hour strike. 

About 4,300 members in Oshawa, St. Catharines and Woodstock, Ontario, voted 80.5 percent in favor of the deal that promises pay increases of nearly 20 percent for longtime workers over the three-year term, a compression of the wage progression grid and bonuses of C$10,000 (about $7,320) for full-timers, among other gains. 

Unifor posted the results on its website.

Union President Lana Payne said the deal offers “life-changing improvements” for members.

“This agreement reflects true collective bargaining. Our goal was to bring more fairness and equity to auto workplaces and to lift everyone up. We did that,” she said in a statement.

Unifor’s bargaining committee and GM negotiators finalized a tentative deal Oct. 10, about 12 hours after workers at the Oshawa Assembly Plant, St. Catharines Propulsion Plant and Woodstock Parts Distribution Centre set up picket lines. The short-lived strike was the first walkout for GM Canada workers governed by the union’s master agreement with the automaker since 1996. 

Ahead of the membership vote, Unifor’s bargaining committee secured the unanimous endorsement of production and skilled trades leadership across locals 222, 199 and 636. Voting took place either online or at in-person ratification meetings Saturday and Sunday, depending on the preference of the union local. 

GM Canada President Marissa West said ratification of the new collective agreement is “significant news” for employees across Ontario, as well as the communities they work in. In a statement, she thanked Payne and the rest of the union bargaining team for the positive outcome.

“Together, we’ve secured a deal that recognizes the many contributions of our 4,200 represented team members through significant increases in wages, benefits, and job security, while positioning GM Canada to remain competitive in the future.”

Fitting with Unifor’s pattern bargaining strategy, the GM deal closely tracks earlier gains the union made in its agreement with Ford Motor Co. of Canada last month. 

Unifor opened this round of auto talks with each of the Detroit 3 on Aug. 10, before selecting Ford as its initial target Aug. 29. 

With three-year deals with Ford and GM locked in, the union is expected to turn its attention to reopening bargaining with Stellantis in the coming days. 

Stellantis has the largest footprint of the three companies in Canada, employing about 8,200 hourly workers across nine unionized workplaces.. The company is also building a joint venture battery cell plant in Windsor that Unifor has set its sights on organizing.

Terms of the deal

In addition to the 20 percent wage increases, the new contract includes a path back to defined benefit pensions for all workers and a compressed wage grid that allows staff to reach top-end pay in four years as opposed to eight. Besides th C$10,000 bonus for full-time workers, there  is a C$4,000 bonus ($2,929 USD) for temporary part-timers is also included.

Unifor, in a letter sent last week to the rank-and-file, also disclosed these additional details about the tentative agreement:

• General wage increases will work like this: 10 percent in year one, 2 percent in year two and 3 percent in year three.
• A reactivation of the cost-of-living allowance, or COLA, in December 2024.
• Workers' wage progression gets reduced from eight years down to four years.
• The start rate for temporary part-time and production workers increases from C$24.26 ($17.77 USD at the current exchange rate) to C$29.67 ($21.73 USD) and hour, further increasing to C$30.26 ($22.16 USD) within 12 months, and C$31.16 ($22.82 USD) by the end of the agreement.
• The conversion of all full-time temporary workers with at least one year of seniority at ratification to permanent status.
• Improvements to all pension plans, though the amount wasn't disclosed.
• Mandatory company contributions to the defined contribution plan increase from 4 percent to 7 percent. The union said defined contribution plan members "will transition to a new defined benefits style pension for current plan members and all new hires on January 1, 2025."
• A new quarterly payment "unique to Canadian retirees, called the Universal Health Care Allowance." These quarterly payments will continue in each year of the three-year agreement, the union said.
• Two new additional paid holidays: Family Day and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.