Unifor said 81 percent of workers who participated voted in favor of the contract. Workers voted virtually on the deal Sunday through Monday morning.

Unifor wants as many as two new models to be built alongside the minivans at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Windsor, Ontario, assembly plant, where one of three shifts was recently cut amid shrinking sales in the segment.

Wage gains for members include a two-year reduction in the contentious 10-year wage grow-in period, two CND$2,000 “inflation protection” bonuses, a CND$7,250 “productivity and quality bonus” and two general wage increases of 2.5 percent for workers at the full pay rate, according to the Canadian union.

The agreement, which still must be ratified by workers, calls for a $1.35 billion retooling for the automaker’s Oakville, Ontario, assembly plant to build electric vehicles, the union said. Unifor will bargain with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles next.

The extension temporarily averts a potential strike by about 6,300 workers, though Unifor would be in a legal position to do so on Tuesday. Talks have focused extensively on product plans for the automaker's Oakville, Ontario, plant.

The Toronto Star reported that the federal government is willing to offer the automaker about $380 million to help retool its Oakville, Ontario, assembly plant to produce electric vehicles. The union has not commented on the report.

The master agreement between Ford and Unifor covering about 6,300 Canadian workers is set to expire Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET. Unifor last week picked Ford as its target company.

Should the Detroit 3 agree to the three-year contracts Unifor President Jerry Dias is going after, Unifor and the UAW would negotiate for new production at the same time.

With Ford, the union seeks long-term product commitments at its plant in Oakville, Ontario, following a report from the forecasting firm AutoForecast Solutions that stated the factory would not build the next-generation Edge. Ford neither confirmed nor denied that report.

The petition calls on the union to “publish all revisions, additions, deletions and changes to the contract, clearly marked,” on its website. Advocates of the change say the current ratification process isn't transparent enough without the entire contract being presented before a vote.

The dealership group reported a net loss of $20.1 million (CDN) in the second quarter as the COVID-19 pandemic sent the retail sales plummeting in April and May, offsetting gains made in Canada in June as stores reopened. The company's U.S. unit reduced its net loss from a year ago.

Contracts between Unifor and the Detroit 3 expire on Sept. 21. Unifor President Jerry Dias has said the union will push for product commitments from the companies at each of their Canadian plants.

Unifor is seeking product commitments at several Detroit 3 plants in Canada, but those might be hard to come by amid the chaos of COVID-19.

New Kia Sportages, Souls and Tellurides were pressed into service in Toronto and Vancouver to help fight hunger during the coronavirus crisis.