At the last moment Unifor, the union representing Ford's 6700 Canadian workers, announced a tentative agreement.
Broadcasting via Periscope, members of the Unifor bargaining teams provided a positive tone about the new tentative agreement. Sitting behind a table 6 members were on hand to provide specific details about a small slice of an agreement that took over 89 days to reach.
The majority of information provided was about how the Unifor ensured that the long term footprint of automotive manufacturing would be kept in Canada. In Ford's case it was primarily focused on a major retooling of the Essex Engine plant in the Windsor. The total investment in Canada agreed to by Ford is $700M; however, it became apparent that Ford is expecting Unifor to get support from both the Federal and Provincial governments.
In Oakville, Unifor indicated that Ford had agreed that the primary global production of the EDGE and the Lincoln MKX would not be moved overseas to a plant in China. The Chinese plant is already manufacturing both vehicles. Currently, both the MKX and the Edge are shipped from Oakville, Ontario to 190 countries.
The agreement also removed the option of Ford using temporary workers, and provided stability for retirement co-pays. The Oakville team did indicate that there are some elements of the agreement that they didn't like, such as the loss of the Hybrid.
Full details of the agreement were not provided because the Unifor negotiation team wants to provide its members with that information first. Members will begin the ratification vote on Saturday, November 5, 2016 which will last until Sunday, November 6, 2016.
