On Sunday, Canadian autoworkers adopted a new labor agreement with Ford, averting a threatened strike and potentially creating a precedent for the United Auto Workers’ walkout at manufacturer sites in the United States.
According to the Canadian autoworker organization Unifor, the new agreement improves base hourly pay for manufacturing workers by about 20% over three years and by over 25% for trade workers. It also provides a $10,000 bonus to permanent employees and includes a cost-of-living change, which raises earnings in line with inflation.
Ford touted the arrangement as a 15% wage rise over the course of three years. However, the union claims that the figure does not consider the compounding of each annual raise or the initial cost-of-living increase, both of which should enhance workers’ actual income.
Ford did not reply quickly to a request for clarification.
One week has passed since the United Auto Workers began historic work stoppages against major automakers. The UAW started targeted strikes against General Motors, Stellantis, and Ford when the union’s contract with the firms ended on September 14 at midnight. 13,000 workers walked out of three assembly plants.
