Strike averted.
Negotiations went past the stated strike deadline, but Ford autoworkers are staying on the job as Unifor and the company were able to reach a tentative agreement.
.@JerryPDias says tentative deal with @FordCanada would see Windsor facilities "at the top of the food chain for powertrain operations" #sx
— Ricardo Veneza (@RicardoVeneza) November 1, 2016
Unifor National President Jerry Dias says the tentative deal would bring Windsor's facilities to the "top of the food chain for powertrain operations" within Ford. Dias says the company is investing $700-million in its Canadian operations with the largest portion going to the Windsor facilities, but he wouldn't get more specific.
"The challenge in Windsor was significant," says Jerry Dias, addressing the difficulty of the negotiations with Ford.
The deal still needs to be ratified by the membership. Union leadership expects the process to begin on Saturday while most of the voting will be carried out on Sunday. There are six different union locals that have to vote.
Contract negotiations went down to the wire as the union said as late as 8pm — through its director of communications, Denise Hammond — there wasn't enough progress to feel confident a deal could get done before the strike deadline set at 11:59pm.
“The fate is the employer’s hands,” said Hammond of reaching a deal before the strike deadline. “We will either reach a tentative agreement or we will be on strike.”
An update on the status of negotiations from Hammond at 10pm showed Unifor and Ford had narrowed their discussions to "the most important" issues.
Discussions seemed to hit a snag over the union's issues with Ford's proposals; a lack of tangible investment in their Canadian operations, a demand for offsets to an enhanced wage grid — part of the pattern agreements the union reached with Fiat-Chrysler and General Motors — and concessions in the long-term healthcare plan for employees.
A strike by the roughly 6,700 Unifor members at Ford’s Bramalea, Oakville and Windsor operations would have been the first by Canadian autoworkers at a Detroit Three automaker since 1996.
