Approximately 8,200 Stellantis employees went on strike shortly after the automotive company and the Canadian automotive workers’ union Unifor passed the Sunday 11:59 PM contract deadline.
An update from union leaders, including Unifor President Lana Payne, instructed Stellantis workers in Canada to report for their next regularly scheduled shift to receive strike-related guidance. However, the leaders stated that negotiators would continue discussions throughout the night and reported progress in the talks.
Stellantis: strike by around 8,200 Unifor workers begins in Canada
“We are extremely disappointed”, Stellantis said in a statement provided by spokesperson LouAnn Gosselin. “We will continue to negotiate in good faith until an agreement is reached. We look forward to having all our employees back to work as soon as possible”. Unifor had set a negotiation deadline before resuming talks with the automaker on October 18th, following General Motors Co. workers in Canada accepting the agreement with 80.5% support. The union stated in a social media post around 10:15 PM on Sunday that negotiations “continue with progress made”.
Unifor had already reached agreements with Ford and General Motors in the past weeks. These agreements are intended to serve as a framework for negotiations with Stellantis. The pressure on Stellantis in Canada is therefore increasing, while on Saturday, United Auto Workers (UAW) announced a preliminary agreement for a new labor contract.
Negotiating rights for the upcoming NextStar electric vehicle battery factory in Windsor is among the topics on the Canadian side of the table. In July, Stellantis and the governments of Canada and Ontario announced an agreement that could reach $16 billion for the construction of an electric battery plant. Several thousand jobs are at stake in this factory, which is set to begin production in 2024.