With just several days left until the strike deadline for Unifor members at General Motors, the two sides still have a ways to go, according to the union.
Unifor National President Lana Payne provided an update Friday afternoon regarding the negotiations between the auto-giant and bargaining teams. She stated that while there has been some movement in local and sub-committee talks, there remains some significant resistance on other key elements of the pattern agreement that was set last month with Ford Canada.
“No one here expected getting this pattern with GM would be easy. As I’ve mentioned before, it is wrong to assume that these employers will simply accept the pattern agreement,” Payne said. “In the end, we’ve always secured the pattern, but that doesn’t stop the companies from trying to break it and demand less.”
Payne said GM and Unifor are not on agreement with items including GM’s full-time temporary workers classification, the universal health allowance for retirees and future product investment commitments. She claims that GM is withholding several hundred full-time, permanent job opportunities from full-time temporary worker members. She said the union is adamant that this be addressed and that no tentative agreement will be accepted until this specific matter is resolved.
“Our job here is to fight for this pattern agreement for our GM members and we are doing just that. We know these companies would like nothing better than to break pattern. But I can assure you that your bargaining committee and the entire union team is here to help GM workers drive the pattern home,” said Payne.
This is the second company of the Big Three Detroit automakers Unifor is in talks with. Once members ratify an agreement with GM, Unifor will set its sights on Stellantis.
Bargaining committees will continue talks with GM over Thanksgiving weekend. The deadline to reach a tentative agreement with GM is Monday, October 9 at 11:59 p.m.
Union members are advised to monitor autotalks.ca for additional updates.
