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FORD IS THE UNIFOR TARGET FOR PATTERN AGREEMENT!


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32 minutes ago, Oacjay98 said:

Jerry Dias  just announced that Ford is the target for negotiations for the Unifor contract. Now we will have a clearer picture of what they will do with OAC.

Unifor is also trying to go after a 3 year deal to coincide with UAW bargaining.

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I'm guessing adding Fusion Active and a commitment to continue Edge and Nautilus will be the prize. That will ensure Ford will invest in OAC to make it PHEV and EV capable which is the important thing to have a future in car assembly plants. Goodluck and I hope you guys get what you want.

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Thanks man, I hope we are able to strike a decent deal with the mighty FOMOCO. They’re also seeking a 3 year contract which I find interesting. It would’ve been nice to have ratified from last year since 2020 has been a mess! I guess UNIFOR feels better leveraged for bargain when UAW does. UAW will always supersede Unifor in my opinion. Even though ford has been in Canada for over 100 years it’s an American company at the end of the day. 

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14 minutes ago, bzcat said:

I'm guessing adding Fusion Active and a commitment to continue Edge and Nautilus will be the prize. That will ensure Ford will invest in OAC to make it PHEV and EV capable which is the important thing to have a future in car assembly plants. Goodluck and I hope you guys get what you want.

I was thinking that he’ll maybe we will get the mysterious Fusion Active but that might be wishful thinking.

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1 hour ago, bzcat said:

I'm guessing adding Fusion Active and a commitment to continue Edge and Nautilus will be the prize. That will ensure Ford will invest in OAC to make it PHEV and EV capable which is the important thing to have a future in car assembly plants. Goodluck and I hope you guys get what you want.


Will be even be more future product foretelling by the announcement.

Dias is also saving his A** with this statement "The bottom line is, the group that I think is the most vulnerable are our members in Oakville, and they deserve the right to determine their own fate." So basically if the plant closes its the memberships fault not the Union/Company's fault.

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1 minute ago, Oacjay98 said:

Dias is all bark no damn bite! 


Worse is that his bark doesn't know when to shut up as he loves a camera more than Trump. You'd figure after he almost lost the CAMI plant he'd be a little more carful with his choice of words. 

Worse thing the CAW did was fold into UNIFOR. UNIFOR is 100% in it for the UNIFOR and political gain. They will sacrifice membership all day if it means they can win at the election polls and score points on the national stage if 2000 people lose their job in the collateral damage so be it. CAW wanted more leverage on the stage and what it got was way less power and to make its membership be sacrificial lambs for "Canadian Values" they got sold a very bad deal. 

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Ya Cami was down for a month due to strike and nothing much if anything was achieved. Then that horrible GM deal with Oshawa in 2016 when all they got was a half done old Silverado sent to Oshawa for final assembly! When I heard that I knew Oshawa was done! I hope Unifor does a better job! Lots of plants closed during CAW times too and joining with unifor as you said hasn’t gotten us much further. Leverage has been diminished, no autopact anymore, globalization, labor costs, hell even covid. 

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46 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

So what’s your honest feeling about this? You've hinted at it but haven't actually laid it out. 

My honest feeling is hope and skepticism. I’m hopeful that we will get a new product but I’m skeptical I’m regards to the no concession stance. We’ve all heard that before then the union buckled. I believe Ford actually wants to maintain their small manufacturing footprint in Canada. 

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6 hours ago, jasonj80 said:


Will be even be more future product foretelling by the announcement.

Dias is also saving his A** with this statement "The bottom line is, the group that I think is the most vulnerable are our members in Oakville, and they deserve the right to determine their own fate." So basically if the plant closes its the memberships fault not the Union/Company's fault.

Of course good ole Jerry wants to deflect blame to the membership if this all falls through. I believe a settlement will be made with Ford. Just hope it isn’t some excessively concessionary BS!

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5 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

Is that when the current contract ends? 

Unifor membership across the board are also fighting for full contract disclosure before ratification just like UAW members get. Jerry Dias says that’s not the most important thing as he doesn’t chase mice. He said that’s more of a local issue and he’s going after products. A petition has been submitted to Unifor as we want full disclosure before any ratification! Will they do it??? We shall see!

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1 hour ago, Oacjay98 said:

Lol ya he loves the spotlight.

 

2 hours ago, jasonj80 said:


He sure chases a TV camera though.

Ford, Unifor posture on contract talks as deadline looms

John Irwin

Unifor and Ford Motor Co. remain “miles apart” in bargaining as Monday’s contract expiration looms, according to the union’s president.

“We’ve got a ton of work to do,” Unifor President Jerry Dias said. “We are far apart right now on everything: product, economics. Ultimately, I realize we have several days yet to go, but the clock is starting to tick.”

The union is seeking an investment and new product for Ford’s Oakville, Ont., plant, where production of the Edge crossover will reportedly end in 2023. Unifor also wants changes to the 10-year wage grow-in period and other economic gains.

The master agreement between Ford and Unifor covering about 6,300 Canadian workers is set to expire Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET. Unifor last week picked Ford as its target company, meaning that an agreement reached between the two sides will set the pattern for negotiations with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and General Motors.

Ford COO Jim Farley, who will take over as CEO on Oct. 1, said discussions with Unifor were “going great.”

“I’m staying very close,” Farley said today at an event in Dearborn, Mich. “I’ve talked with Mr. Dias and all the political leaders in Canada. It’s a very important negotiation for Ford. We’re working through it now.”

STRIKE POSSIBILITY DOWNPLAYED

Dias said he remained confident the two sides would get a deal done before the deadline, though he cautioned that it was still too soon to say so definitively.

“As we start to get closer to the deadline, we’re going to have a much better idea,” he said. “There’s still lots of time right now. Things can move quickly and can shift on a dime.”

If no deal is reached by the Monday night deadline, Unifor would be in a legal strike position. But Gary Johnson, Ford’s head of manufacturing and labour affairs, told Automotive News that he was not expecting a strike at this time.

“I wouldn’t try to handicap it, but it’s the last thing we want to do,” he said. “We’re going to do what’s fair to the company and fair to employees, but I’m not expecting a strike. But you never know. Maybe things change and it’s something you do, but that’s not the goal.”

Johnson said negotiations were “on track,” adding that he speaks with Dias every day. He said Canada remains “important” to Ford as a manufacturing hub.

“One of the things you always talk about is, how do you build where you sell? That’s what our ‘Built for America’ campaign is all about [in the U.S.] It’s a similar discussion in Canada,” he said.

Dias complimented Ford’s bargaining team for being “incredibly professional” during the talks.

“They have a team that is capable and qualified. Let’s just say I’ve dealt with a lot worse companies than Ford over the years. It’s been respectful, and the needle is moving slowly,” he said.

THREE-YEAR CONTRACT?

Dias said last week that the union was looking to secure three-year contracts with Ford and the other automakers, instead of the four-year deals that have been standard since the 2008-09 financial crisis. Unifor’s predecessor, the Canadian Auto Workers, negotiated three-year deals before the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler.

“It was like that for 50 years, so we’re used to that,” Ford’s Johnson said. “I think there’s advantages on both sides. We’ll see where it comes out.”

When asked if he would support the move to a three-year contract, Johnson said he would see what Dias’ “demand is related to it and how it helps them and how it helps us.”

COVID-19 IMPACT

This year’s negotiations have taken place amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which will move ratification votes by Unifor members online. Dias said negotiating during the pandemic has been “odd” for him, considering social distancing requirements, more video conferencing and the use of face masks.

“So much of what we do is about expressions; it’s about messaging,” he said. “It’s pretty tough when you’re looking at a mask all day long. It’s a lot easier to play poker when your face is covered.”

Johnson echoed Dias, calling negotiating during a pandemic “weird.”

“The last weekend we were on phone calls at midnight,” Johnson said. “If we can’t do it physically, we’ll figure it out and make it work.”

Michael Martinez contributed to this

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27 minutes ago, Oacjay98 said:

We’re going to do what’s fair to the company and fair to employees, but I’m not expecting a strike


Yeah GM said the same thing last year after they were picked as the lead when ANYONE with a brain could have seen what was coming. Not saying this situation is the same as that one just that I'm not buying it. 

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1 hour ago, fuzzymoomoo said:


Yeah GM said the same thing last year after they were picked as the lead when ANYONE with a brain could have seen what was coming. Not saying this situation is the same as that one just that I'm not buying it. 

Agreed, anything can happen I believe a strike is possible I just don’t think much will be achieved if we do indeed strike. There’s still time to reach a settlement. FOMOCO will not walk out of this empty handed I know that much. 

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