Canada: GM and Union reached last-minute agreement to avoid strike

General Motors and Unifor, the Canadian trade union of workers in the sector, reached an agreement that averted a strike that would lead to blocking of some of the Canadian facilities of the company.

The deal, which will be subject to a ratification vote on Sunday, provides that Oshawa's assembly plant will remain open, that it's focused on sedans that come out of production in 2019 and GM is committed to investing "hundreds of millions of dollars" in a restructuring program to allow the assembly also of other product categories.

“We have negotiated literally hundreds of millions of dollars for our Canadian facilities. This turns the tide” of the decline of the Canada auto industry, said Jerry Dias, Unifor president. And added that "It provides job security for members who haven't had job security in more than 10 years".

GM confirmed that it has agreed to the new investments that will place its Canadian "operations at the forefront of advanced manufacturing flexibility, innovation and environmental sustainability."

The contract, which expired yesterday, however, covers approximately 20,500 Canadian workers of General Motors, Ford and Fca, with union representatives who are ready to focus attention on the other two groups asking for specific commitments in terms of investments for new products, such as Brampton plant, Fca, and two engine factories in Windsor, Ford.

"We changed the progression to give our new members much more money up front," Dias said. "We secured wage increases, we secured lump sums."

"Fca has allocated about $ 2 billion in new Pacifica, launched last April, while about Brampton, the products are older", commented the Banca Akros analyst adding that, however, the negotiations with Unifor for the four-yearly renewal should be simpler than those that involved General Motors.