Unifor has announced that it has reached a provisional agreement with Stellantis, putting an end to a brief strike by the automotive manufacturer. More than 8,200 workers represented by Unifor had walked out of work at Stellantis facilities in Canada after the two parties failed to reach an agreement by the Sunday deadline. The union stated that although the strike was short, it was an “important act of solidarity and determination”.
Stellantis reaches provisional agreement in Canada with Unifor
“It has demonstrated the strength of our union and has provided our negotiating team with the means to reach a tentative agreement that satisfies both the fundamental economic demands in the union’s model agreement and our specific demands for Stellantis”, said Unifor‘s National President, Lana Payne in a statement.
The agreement with the automotive manufacturer behind brands like Fiat, Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep comes after Unifor had previously reached agreements with Ford Motor Co. and General Motors. A Unifor strike at GM lasted less than a day. Mark Stewart, Chief Operating Officer of Stellantis North America, expressed gratitude for the negotiating teams.
“Once ratified, this agreement will reward our 8,000 represented employees and safeguard the long-term health of our Canadian operations”, Stewart said in a statement. The details of the agreement with Stellantis were not immediately available, but Unifor had requested that the automaker accept the same fundamental economic terms that the union had reached with the other major companies. The union had also stated last week that it was working on plans for electric vehicles for its Canadian facilities.
Union members at Ford and GM have ratified agreements that will see workers receive wage increases of nearly 20 percent over three years, among many other improvements. In the United States, Stellantis had seen growing strikes in the past six weeks by United Auto Workers members at its plants, but the company reached a provisional agreement with the union starting on Saturday.