Ford Unifor Agreement Ratified -- Voted Down at Oakville Unit, Local 707

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1329 .... November 11, 2016
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Ford Unifor Agreement Ratified -- Voted Down at Oakville Unit, Local 707

Herman Rosenfeld

As bargaining between Unifor and the Canadian branches of the Detroit Three automakers came down to the last company, Ford, the signs were pointing to an emerging resistance to decades of concessions. Amid general opposition on the shop floor, leaders at the biggest Ford local were openly opposing the pattern the union had bargained with General Motors and Fiat Chrysler (FCA).

But at the October 31st deadline, the Unifor locals reached a tentative agreement with Ford, based on the pattern. Ratification votes were held November 5 and 6 and the agreement was narrowly passed by 58% across the Ford Canada local unions and therefore came into effect, even though it... was rejected by 55% at Local 707 in Oakville.

This year's pattern offers weak raises, maintains the 10-year wage grow-in for recent and future hires, and eliminates the defined-benefit pension for future hires. Workers ratified it in lackluster votes at GM September 25 and FCA October 16.

It was hoped that if Ford workers rejected the agreement, this could have become the spark for a wider opposition to the current direction of Unifor's leadership.

Opposition had been building at the Ford Oakville plant -- with 5,000 members, by far the largest of Unifor's three Ford locals. The widespread feeling is that a continued two-tier is unfair, given the company's enormous profits.

"The GM pattern won't fly with the membership of Local 707," said Local President Dave Thomas last week. But the leaders of the Oakville local endorsed the agreement bargained on Halloween.

Leading into the midnight bargaining deadline, Ford had agreed to resolve all local issues at Oakville and promised new investment in its Windsor facility (part of Local 200) -- but threatened to pull all its production out of Canada if the union rejected the pattern.

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