Canadian union: Ford deal ‘uncertain’ as deadline looms

Canadian union: Ford deal ‘uncertain’ as deadline looms

Negotiations between the Canadian auto workers union and Ford Motor Co. have been “painfully slow,” according to the Unifor union.

Denise Hammond, spokeswoman for the union, said that as of 4 p.m. Monday a “deal between Unifor and Ford remains uncertain,” as Unifor looks to the Dearborn-based automaker to follow a pattern deal that has already been ratified by union members of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and General Motors Co. in Canada. The deadline for a deal to be reached is 11:59 p.m. Monday.

“This has been a difficult round of talks for our union,” Hammond said during a media update from Toronto that was broadcast online. “It is proving to be the most challenging among the Detroit Three automakers.”

Heading into negotiations, many believed General Motors Co. would be the most difficult, followed by Ford and then Fiat Chrysler, which was the only Detroit automaker to substantially make any production investment in recent years in Canada.

If a deal is not reached by the deadline, about 6,700 Unifor members are prepared to strike and walk out of their plants — halting engine production and vehicle assembly of four vehicles at three facilities: Essex Engine Plant, Windsor Engine Plant and Oakville Assembly Plant. Oakville is by far the largest, with about 5,000 employees making the Edge, Flex, Lincoln MKT and MKX.

“While we do not, do not seek a strike, our union is firm in our priorities to secure investment and the pattern agreement that was set with General Motors and Fiat Chrysler,” Hammond said, adding union officials were “cautiously optimistic” that a deal could be reached before midnight.

A strike would be the first by the Canadian auto workers union against one of the Detroit automakers since 1996, when GM members halted production at their facilities for three weeks.

Ford, according to Hammond, has “repeatedly” told the union since negotiations officially started with the automaker that it would not accept the agreement without “forcing offsets,” including the “immediate introduction” of temporary full-time workers with a lower starting wage and long-term health care concessions.

Ford did not immediately respond for comment on the union’s update.

Both the GM and FCA deals included financial gains for Unifor members, including a 10-year wage grow-in period with annual raises for new and recently hired members; CA$6,000 signing bonus; and CA$2,000 lump-sum payments in the final three years of the deal. They also included 2 percent wage increases for traditional members now and in 2019.

Heading into the talks, Unifor’s main goal was investment and product commitments in an attempt to secure the future of the Canadian auto industry, which has significantly declined in the past decade.

The Fiat Chrysler agreement includes at least CA$331 million while GM promised $554 million. However, Fiat Chrysler recently spent $2.6 billion for the development and production of the Chrysler Pacifica minivan in Windsor.