October 30, 2019

TORONTO—Following months of difficult negotiations, Unifor finally secured Closure Agreements with Inteva Products, Lear Corporation Whitby, Auto Warehousing Canada (AWC), and Robinson Solutions.

“Unifor has repeatedly insisted that auto parts and service provider workers made significant contributions to the success of their employers and to General Motors. They deserved more than legislative minimum severance, and Unifor was successful in negotiating enhanced packages for our members,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “We allocated resources, developed a coordinated bargaining plan, and we had the strong commitment of our leadership and membership. That is why we were successful in getting fair Agreements for our members.”

The Agreements were the last of 11 negotiated by Unifor at companies that will be significantly impacted by the discontinuation of vehicle assembly at GM Oshawa. The 11 Agreements cover more than 1,200 Unifor represented workers in the independent auto parts sector (IPS).

In November 2018, General Motors announced that Oshawa Assembly Plant would not allocate vehicle assembly past December 2019. Unifor warned the public and all levels of government that the closure of the General Motors assembly line in Oshawa would have substantial consequences for IPS workers in feeder plants and related service provider companies across the region.

Following the union’s negotiations with GM for enhanced severance packages for Oshawa workers, the union engaged in bargaining for more than six months to secure fair closure and restructuring Agreements for its IPS members. Throughout the negotiations, Unifor maintained a firm position that legislated minimum was unacceptable.

“In the end, we successfully negotiated double the Employment Standards Act (ESA) minimum severance from the IPS employers,” said Colin James, Unifor Local 222 President. “Without the extraordinary dedication and resiliency of IPS workers, reaching these deals would not have been possible. But to be clear, enhanced severance doesn’t replace a good paying job. And knowing this, we will never give up on our efforts to advocate for bringing vehicle assembly back to Oshawa.”

With the continued threat of jobs in Ontario moving south and overseas, Unifor continues to press political leaders at all levels of government for a much-needed National Automotive Strategy that protects workers in the automotive and parts supplier industries.

October 31, 2019 – 11:45 AM

Unifor members mobilized for a Day of Action as Doug Ford prepared to reconvene the Ontario legislature on October 28. Hundreds descended on Queen’s Park to protest the premier’s return from nearly five months of dodging public and media scrutiny throughout the federal election.

The Day of Action comes after Unifor members have been engaged in the Stop Ford Cuts campaign. The campaign continues to raise awareness of all the ways Doug Ford’s cuts have hurt families all across the province. His cuts are among the deepest in the province’s history. All told, Ford’s conservatives have cut the equivalent of $1,100 per person on everything from hospitals and schools to vital social and public services including water and food safety, and even vaccinations.

Ford has already undermined the province’s most vulnerable and precariously employed workers by cancelling dozens of planned improvements to the province’s labour legislation. He ended proactive workplace safety inspections, lowered fines for employers that violate the labour code, cancelled a fair minimum wage of $15 per hour, cut $16 million from the office responsible for preventing workplace deaths and injuries, and refuses to implement a regulation that would see employers that use temp agency workers held responsible for injuries and deaths on the job.

Millions of Ontarians are already feeling the effects of Ford’s cuts to social services and attacks on workers’ rights. He remains one of the least popular premiers in the country and voters resoundingly rejected conservative cuts in the recent federal election by defeating Andrew Scheer. However, with the resumption of the legislature Ford plans to enter the next phase of his attacks on the province’s workers.

In the wake of the federal election, workers across Ontario know they face their greatest challenge from Bill 124, a public sector wage freeze bill similar to those being introduced by conservative provincial governments all across Canada in a coordinated fashion.

The October 28 Day of Action demonstrated that workers will continue to mobilize and relentlessly pressure Ford’s conservatives to reverse course on his cuts to public services and plans to undermine workers’ rights.

Workers in Ontario also launched the Stop Ford Cuts campaign in September to fightback against the government’s conservative agenda. The campaign calls for an end to the government’s slashing of public services and municipal spending, and instead invest in public services that lift up all workers and ensure a brighter future for all.

The premier has been forced to backtrack on some of his planned cuts to autism programs, retroactive cuts to municipal funding, and more. With broad-based public support, and acts of solidarity like the October 28 Day of Action, workers across Ontario can win.

To learn more about the Stop Ford Cuts campaign visit stopfordcuts.ca