The Canadian union Unifor announced on September 18 that contract negotiations with Ford Motor were ongoing. The union advised its members to maintain their regular work schedules until clear guidance was provided regarding the negotiations.
Unifor’s contract with Ford, which covers 5,600 workers at three plants, expired at 11:59 p.m. local time on the same day. However, the union has not confirmed whether a strike will take place.
Initially, Unifor had planned to live-stream updates on its website at midnight, but this was postponed in favor of posting negotiation updates on the social media platform Twitter.
A few hours prior to the contract deadline, Lana Payne, the national president of Unifor, addressed members in a video on the union’s website, emphasizing that Ford needed to take additional steps to meet the expectations and demands of union members.
These negotiations come shortly after the United Auto Workers (UAW) announced strikes against Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, targeting the car assembly plants of these three major Detroit automakers.
The UAW has indicated its intention to call for strikes at additional plants on Friday if progress is not achieved in the ongoing negotiations with these automakers.