The union representing workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' sites in Canada has reached a tentative agreement for a new labor contract with the automaker.
DETROIT - The union representing workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' sites in Canada has reached a tentative agreement for a new labor contract with the automaker.
Unifor National President Jerry Dias announced the agreement late Monday night minutes before a strike deadline. The new deal still needs to be put to a vote by Unifor's 9,750 members at FCA sites in Windsor, Brampton and Etobicoke.
As part of the agreement, Dias said FCA is committing C$325 million (about $246 million) to rebuild a paintshop in Brampton. It also
And after some wrangling, FCA ultimately agreed to match the economic pattern of GM's agreement with Unifor, Dias said. That means Unifor members at FCA will see wage increases immediately and "significant increases" over the life of the agreement.
The GM agreement called for a 2 percent general wage increase in year one and four of the contract, a $6,000 ratification bonus and $2,000 lump sum payments in year two, three and four.
"It took many days and challenging conversations to get here, but we have a tentative agreement which includes investment commitments and matches the economic pattern established in the GM Agreement," Dias said. "Entering into the 2016 negotiations the entire leadership at our auto locals unanimously endorsed investment commitments as our top priority. This objective was achieved with GM, and I am proud to report we were successful with FCA as well."
Unifor, which has 23,050 workers the Detroit Three automakers, negotiates with Ford Motor Co. next.