By Canadian autoworkers represented by Unifor have voted to ratify a three-year contract agreement with General Motors (GM). The union announced on Sunday that 80.5% of its members at three Ontario GM facilities voted in favor of the deal.
This agreement follows a similar pattern to the one reached earlier with Ford and leaves Jeep maker Stellantis as the only automaker without a contract. Negotiations with Stellantis, which has the largest Canadian manufacturing presence among Detroit’s three automakers, have yet to begin.
The ratification of the GM agreement comes after a short strike last week by workers at GM factories in Oshawa and St. Catharines, Ontario, as well as a parts warehouse in Woodstock, Ontario.
According to GM, this deal acknowledges the contributions of workers while positioning the company to maintain competitiveness in the future.
The terms of the agreement include significant pay raises for production workers and skilled trades. Production workers will receive pay raises of nearly 20%, while skilled trades will see a raise of 25%. General pay raises will be provided within the first year (10%), followed by 2% in the second year and 3% in the third year. Additionally, cost-of-living pay raises will be reinstated starting from December 2024. Temporary workers will also receive pay raises, and those with at least one year of service will be offered permanent positions.
Furthermore, workers who currently have defined-contribution retirement plans will transition to a new defined-benefits pension starting on January 1, 2025.
Unifor, the largest private sector union in Canada with 315,000 workers across various industries, successfully secured a favorable contract for its autoworker members.
Meanwhile, in the United States, the United Auto Workers union continues strikes, with approximately 34,000 workers on strike at all three Detroit companies.
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