Current contract expires Sept. 19
Unifor announced that General Motors (GM) is the target company to set a pattern agreement in the current round of negotiations with North American automakers.
"Our demand is clear, invest today to build a future for tomorrow," said Jerry Dias, Unifor president.
GM employs 6,600 Unifor members in Oshawa, Ingersoll and St. Catharines, Ont. making the Impala, Equinox, Buick Regal, Cadillac XTS and GMC Terrain, as well as engines, transmissions and other components.
Ingersoll CAMI workers — 2,600 members — are not part of the master agreement, according to the union. About 23,050 Unifor members work at all the Detroit-based companies.
With pattern bargaining, negotiations focus on one company to reach an agreement that sets a standard for the auto industry in Canada. Once an agreement with the target company is ratified by members, focus in bargaining shifts to a second company and then the third.
Unifor's current contract expires at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 19. The autoworkers previously voted to give bargaining committees authorization to call a strike if necessary.
An independent study released by Unifor last week found that losing the Detroit Three would eliminate $26 billion from the Canadian economy, cut 150,000 jobs and cost $4.7 billion per year in government revenues.
"The strength of the auto industry in Canada is not only vital to those in the industry, but to the entire Canadian economy," Dias said. "Policy makers and the public need to understand what is at stake here."
Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing more than 310,000 workers, including 23,050 at the Detroit Three.
