Update: Tentative Agreement Ends Short Strike Against GM By Canadian Autoworkers

A strike against General Motors Co. by Canadian autoworkers lasted less than a day after the two sides reached a tentative agreement Tuesday afternoon.

The walkout began at midnight after GM and Unifor, the union representing Canadian autoworkers, failed to reach a deal by the 11:59 p.m. deadline set by the union.

A letter to members posted on its website from Unifor President Lana Payne and other members of the union’s bargaining team said the issue was GM’s refusal to abide by the same contract terms, or pattern, reached last month with Ford Motor Co.

“This strike is the result of the company’s unwillingness to agree to the union’s core pattern demands on pensions, as well as supports for our retirees and making sure full-time temporary part-time workers are given a clear path to permanent employment, among a series of other unresolved issues,” the letter stated. “Unifor retirees built the automotive industry in Canada and Unifor will not agree to pay our retired members at GM less than retirees at Ford of Canada.”

The GM locations affected were the Oshawa Assembly Complex and CCA Stamped Products, St. Catharines Powertrain Plant and Woodstock Parts Distribution Centre, all in Ontario.

But by Tuesday afternoon, the union posted an update announcing the walkouts at GM’s Canadian facilities sparked a tentative agreement.

“It is thanks to the solidarity of you, the members, that it was possible to move General Motors to accept the pattern to the letter, including all items that company had [initially] fought us on such as pensions, retiree income supports and converting full-time temporary workers into permanent employees over the life of the agreement,” the update said in part.

The brief strike in Canada came only four days after GM saved itself from suffering an additional walkout in the U.S. by the United Auto Workers at its highly profitable full-size SUV assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas.

Just as UAW President Shawn Fain, clad in an “Eat the Rich” T-shirt, was about to announce on Facebook Live he was adding Arlington Assembly to the union’s “stand up strikes” against all three Detroit-based automakers, GM came through with what Fain termed a “major concession.”

The automaker agreed that workers at its plants building batteries for electric vehicles would come under the union’s master agreement. With that promise, Fain spared GM from losing production at a major money-making plant—at least for now.

Progress, yes, but not enough to spark contract accord.

It’s all head-spinning in an unusual contract cycle, with the U.S. and Canadian union contracts with GM, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis all expiring within days, leading to simultaneous talks on both sides of the border.

Bigger than the differences between poutine and coney dogs are the strategies in which the negotiations are being conducted.

In Canada, Unifor is sticking to the traditional method. That entails beginning preliminary negotiations over the summer, then as the contract expiration date draws to within a few weeks, choosing a target company.

At that point, talks with the other two companies are put on hold as the union negotiates exclusively with the target company to create a so-called pattern agreement. Once ratified by workers at the target company, the union would then seek to invoke the pattern agreement’s terms with each of the remaining automakers.

In this case, Ford was Unifor’s target company. The two sides reached a tentative agreement just ahead of a strike deadline, and union members quickly ratified the contract.

GM was next up but balked at going along with term of the pattern set by Unifor and Ford.

In the U.S., that traditional playbook was burned like scrap paper in the barrels keeping workers on the picket lines warm.

It was obvious things would be very different this time around when Shawn Fain, the UAW’s first president elected directly by union members as opposed to delegates, refused to partake in the usual handshake with his counterparts at the automakers to kick off negotiations. Instead, he shook hands with union members at various plants.

Continuing to break from tradition, Fain eschewed the target company-pattern agreement process in favor of negotiating with all three companies simultaneously and using social media to publicize offers and counter-offers, causing the companies to do the same for the first time.

That had the effect of playing the companies off each other, as now their hands were revealed to their workers, giving them the knowledge of what’s on the table.

But Fain’s biggest play has been what he termed “stand up strikes,” hitting selected facilities at all three companies at once, adding to the list when talks stalled, sparing a company from additional walkouts if progress was made at the bargaining table, or, in the case of GM’s big battery plant concession, giving all the automakers a break from additional walkouts, at least temporarily.

Hoping to keep the positive momentum going, on Monday GM released terms of its latest offer, addressing several major UAW demands including:

• 20% wage increase over the life of the four-year agreement with a 10% hike the first year
• Reinstatement of cost-of-living allowances in the second year for workers earning maximum wages
• Progression to the maximum wage level in four years, down from eight.
• All active full-time temporary workers with one year of service immediately converted to step-one in-progression employees once the contract is ratified
• Starting wage for temporary worked increased to $20/hour
• Improved security for retirees with increased company contributions to retirement savings plans and healthcare for active in-progression employees

For a brief time GM found itself in a head-spinning situation, dealing with strikes on both sides of the border, pressed to comply with a pattern agreement to which it doesn’t agree in Canada and facing a maverick union leader in the U.S. who has so far broken every pattern of past negotiations.

This story was originally published on October 10 at 7:10 a.m. ET and updated at 2:36 p.m. ET.