The union representing Canadian autoworkers and Ford announced late Monday that they would continue negotiations past a strike deadline in an effort to reach a deal on a new labor contract.
The announcement, in separate emails, came less than an hour before the contract expiration at 11:59 p.m. Monday.
“Our master bargaining committee is willing to negotiate throughout the night to provide Ford with every opportunity to do right and reach a fair settlement to avoid a work stoppage at its Canadian plants,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias said in a news release.
Ryan Kantautas, vice president for human resources for Ford Motor Co. of Canada, said Ford had also agreed to keep talking past the deadline "to achieve a tentative agreement. We will continue to work collaboratively with Unifor to negotiate a globally competitive collective agreement.”
It wasn't clear how close the two sides had gotten to a deal after what had been described as lengthy negotiating sessions in recent days. The union has scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Tuesday in Toronto with Dias and Unifor bargaining committee representatives.
Earlier on Monday, a Unifor statement said "despite some progress on various items, the union and company continue to focus talks on the key areas, including on job security, wages, benefits and pensions, among others." But the Canadian government is also playing a role, according to media reports, by offering substantial money if Ford agrees to make electric vehicle investments at its Oakville Assembly plant.
The contracts with Ford, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and General Motors cover about 17,000 autoworkers in Canada. Employees at GM's CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, however, work under a contract expiring next year.
Ford was picked to go first by the union, making it the lead in the pattern bargaining expected to be followed by both FCA and GM.
The union has said Ford's Oakville Assembly plant, where the Edge SUV is produced, is viewed as vulnerable but that "we determined that on critical matters such as future investment and collective agreement improvements, Ford’s vision most closely aligned with our own."
The Toronto Star reported Sunday that Canada's federal government is willing to invest half a billion dollars to finance electric vehicle production at Oakville, with some money coming from the province of Ontario.
"After months of discussion and pressure from environmentalists and labour, Ottawa has told the company it is willing to do what it takes to bring electric vehicle production to Ontario and expects its funding to be part of an eventual $2-billion investment for a new mandate at the Oakville Assembly Complex," the Star reported, referencing the Canadian capital.
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Navdeep Bains, the country's minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, declined to comment on the talks, but his spokesman provided a statement when asked about the report:
“... Canada is well positioned to become a leader in electric vehicle and battery production. Developing domestic manufacturing in electric vehicles and batteries would secure more good paying jobs for Canadian workers, and more opportunities for Canadian businesses. It would position Canada’s auto industry as a global leader in a growing market, and help us meet our climate ambitions.”
Kristin Dziczek, vice president of the Industry, Labor & Economics Group at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, said the union is interested in seeing changes in the types of vehicles made in Canada.
“Unifor has been pretty clear that they want to be part of the modernization of the industry because they don’t want to be making big rear-wheel drive sedans and vehicles ... the products that are on the bigger side of things," Dziczek said, noting that FCA, for example, makes its Dodge Charger at the Brampton Assembly Plant. "They want to be making electric vehicles. They want to be making automated vehicles. They want the technology investments there, too."
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence. Become a subscriber.
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