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Ford Reaches Tenative agreement with Canada's UNIFOR


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Autonews.com

UPDATED: 11/1/16 1:44 am ET - adds details; Flex status

Ford Motor Co. reached a tentative labor agreement with Canadian union Unifor early today that includes C$700 million ($522 million) in investment commitments at the automaker’s Canadian facilities.

 

The deal, patterned off new contracts with General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, includes the introduction of a “major engine program” at the Essex engine plant in Windsor, Ontario, Unifor President Jerry Dias said. The engines will be featured on some of Ford’s top-selling vehicles, Dias said, though he declined to discuss specifics.

 

Dias said the program will put Ford’s “Windsor facilities at the top of food chain for powertrain operations.”

 

So any intel on what this new engine could be?

 

Another V8? for F Series?......a new diesel?

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3.0 V6 ecodiesel I bet..... unless that's already locked in place.... or my dream of a 4.0TT V8 that can be used in the F-150, Mustang, Navigator, and another Lincoln, maybe it could fit the Continental with some small alterations, depends on the design of it and how big it actually is I guess..... Sounds like it could be more than one engine, seeing that last line that the facility will be at the top of the food chain for powertrain operations.

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Also, I thought Essex engine was closed and Windsor was the last Engine plant in Canada.

 

I thought it closed in 07 due to The Way Forward and reopened in 09 or something like that, a couple years later, to produce additional 5.0's? Maybe I'm mistaken?

5.0 is made at Essex, 6.8 is made at Windsor...

 

From the OP link...

 

 

Dias said the Windsor engine plant will continue to build 6.8-liter engines V10 engines under the contract. While those engines are expected to be phased out over the next several years, Dias said he expects production to continue until the next round of negotiations in 2020.

 

It was not immediately clear if Unifor was able to secure the jobs in place at the Windsor plant. Dias said there will be a “transition” for workers at the Windsor plant as the new engine program in Essex begins in 2018. He said he expected the total number of employees at the Windsor engine plants to grow as a result of the agreement.

 

 

And then there's this from the Detnews article...

 

 

Dias, when asked about a workforce reduction from the Windsor Engine plant’s 600 workers, said there will be a “transition” for the workforce with the new product for Essex Engine and that the Windsor Engine plant will “not likely” close during the length of the deal.

 

“If I’m talking Ford in Windsor, we’re much better than we were yesterday,” Dias said, adding the “challenge in Windsor was significant.”

 

 

He said he “would expect” the overall number of employees in Windsor to increase during the contract, as Essex Engine moves up from a class “C Plant” to a class “A Plant” to produce engines for Ford’s “best-selling vehicles.”

 

Ford's best selling vehicles.....

Edited by jpd80
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However, the union said Ford plans to discontinue production of the Flex in 2020, even as the plant receives updates for refreshes of the Edge and MKX.

 

 

So, is the Flex going to get updated at all? Another 3-4 years seems like a long time to keep it around as-is. I would have loved to have seen an updated/refreshed Flex with some power train enhancements to entice us to get another, but at the low sales rate, I can see why it didn't happen.

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So, is the Flex going to get updated at all? Another 3-4 years seems like a long time to keep it around as-is. I would have loved to have seen an updated/refreshed Flex with some power train enhancements to entice us to get another, but at the low sales rate, I can see why it didn't happen.

 

Maybe they mean MY 2020, which would be technically early 2019, which seems when the next Explorer comes out on something besides the D4 platform and the Taurus would go away.

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Here's to hoping Ford makes a 5.8L variant of the Coyote 5.0L, builds the motor at Windsor and I can have a 351 Windsor in my next vehicle. :rockon:

 

A 5.8L has been in the rumor for a while.

 

There was also a snippet in the UAW agreement about a new displacement engine for the Super Duty. I haven't heard any more on that in quite some time.

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When did the CUAW become UNIFOR?

Unifor (Union for Canada) is a trade union in Canada, launched in 2013 as a merger of the Canadian Auto Workers and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unifor

 

Good for them. Based on what he's said in the media, I really like Jerry Dias. Unlike that puppet Dennis Williams, he seems like he genuinely cares to me.

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