(Photo of David Cassidy welcoming back AWC workers to the Windsor Assembly Plant on January 19, 2021 courtesy of Unifor Local 444 on Facebook)(Photo of David Cassidy welcoming back AWC workers to the Windsor Assembly Plant on January 19, 2021 courtesy of Unifor Local 444 on Facebook)
Windsor

Blockade at WAP comes down as AWC workers go back on the job

Unifor Local 444 has removed a blockade at the Walker Road and Vimy Avenue entrance to the Windsor Assembly Plant and 60 former members are back on the job.

Local President David Cassidy announced on Facebook the union has a deal with Stellantis, and the workers returned to the plant on Tuesday.

The 60 were employees of Auto Warehousing Company, which lost a contract to Motipark to transport vehicles from the assembly line to storage lots across the city.

Motipark took over the contract on January 1 after a months-long process.

Cassidy believed he had an agreement with Motipark that the company would respect successor rights for the workers from AWC, but when the company brought in its own employees earlier this month, the union set up the original blockade.

On January 8, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles attempted to get a court injunction to force Unifor to remove the picket, but the judge sided with the union.

The blockade came down on January 11 when Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, now Stellantis, agreed to keep the AWC staff working until Unifor could resolve its dispute with Motipark. But, the blockade went up again on Saturday when AWC workers were "walked off the job."

On Monday, Stellantis issued the union an ultimatum, saying "if our Windsor Assembly Plant production is impacted by any unlawful blockade, employees will not be paid for the period of any shutdown caused by Unifor's deliberate actions."

Production was never halted.

Cassidy did not release details of the agreement with Stellantis. He said many of the "fine details" still needed to be worked out.

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