Unifor is heading into its final weekend of negotiations with Stellantis before its strike deadline, as the United Auto Workers in the U.S. also move into a new stage of talks. Unifor attendees enter their meeting with Stellantis as part of the auto talks in Toronto on Thursday, August 10, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin
TORONTO – Unifor is heading into the final weekend of its negotiations with Stellantis before a strike deadline, as the United Auto Workers in the U.S. also move into a new stage of talks.
Unifor has set Oct. 29 at 11:59 p.m. as the deadline for talks with the automaker.
The union says it is working to secure the same gains it established at Ford Motor Co. and General Motors, as well as specifics from Stellantis on its electric vehicle plans for its Canadian plants.
While talks in Canada continue, the UAW announced a breakthrough Wednesday with a tentative deal with Ford that came after about six weeks of escalating strikes.
Barry Eidlin, an associate professor of sociology at McGill University, says that based on the details released so far, the UAW deal looks to be better than what Unifor secured here.
He says the Unifor pattern is still quite good, and that the UAW had much more ground to make up because of past concessions.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2023.
