Company dissolves supplemental workforce program, offers temporary workers full-time jobs
Employees at the General Motors assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont. ratified a new collective agreement over the weekend.
Signed between about 2,700 production and skilled trades workers at the GM plant (also known as CAMI) and Unifor Local 88, the new deal comes with a $3,000 signing bonus and lump sum payments of $2,000 for each of the next three years. As well, provisions in the collective agreement will protect pension benefits for both current employees and retirees.
Of note is that the deal eliminates the supplemental workforce employment program. That means hundreds of temporary workers will be provided with permanent full-time jobs.
As well, new hires will be part of a defined contribution (DC) pension plan — something the union said it will continue to fight against, and instead advocate for a defined benefit (DB) plan for all workers.
"We've crafted an agreement that creates a much-needed sense of job and income security for our members and their families," said Mike Van Boekel, Unifor’s chairperson at the GM plant. "We're going to redouble our efforts to improve pensions for all workers, and will continue to push aggressively for a defined benefit plan in future rounds of talks.”
