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Social media wasn’t a happy place for many Ford employees over the weekend despite being presented Saturday with the details of the richest contract Unifor or its predecessor, the Canadian Auto Workers, has ever negotiated.
The angry venting of a significant percentage of Local 200 workers spilled over into voting with only 54 per cent of workers ratifying the new three-year agreement. There was a 93 per cent turnout for the online voting.
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“I was hoping to see the yes numbers much higher,” admitted Local 200 president John D’Agnolo, who also chaired the Ford master bargaining committee.
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“When you have a large portion of your workforce that can retire soon, their whole focus was on pensions. They were looking to get a lot more increases.
“We used to have what we called pension contracts every six years where we just focused on pensions and we’d get very little increases on anything else.
“This contract we got pension improvements but gains for everybody in different things, which was important.”
D’Agnolo said about 400 to 500 of his 1,722 Local 200 members could retire next year with another 200-250 people being in that position the year following.
With the pension improvements, a production employee who now retires after 30 years will receive $3,745 per month, an increase of $250, while skilled trades will get a rise of $300 per month to $4,225.
For those already retired, the union negotiated ongoing quarterly payments that ranged from $125 to $200 depending on when the employee retired.
D’Agnolo said the public demands of the UAW (United Auto Workers) for a 46 per cent pay increase over 4.5 years also inflated his own membership’s expectations.
“It was a challenge with the numbers the UAW is putting out there,” D’Agnolo said. “He (UAW president Shawn Fain) doesn’t have that (increase), but he’s just doing what he can for his members.”
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The UAW, which has been conducting a targeted strike since Sept. 14, has reduced their wage demands to the mid-30s with the Detroit 3 offering around 20 or 21 per cent.
When the cost-of-living allowance, that was also restored after a 15-year absence, is folded into the new Unifor deal, the top wage for a production worker immediately jumps from $37.33 to $42.39. By the contract’s end, the top scale will be over $46 per hour.
Skilled trades climb from $44.52 to $51.97 immediately and reach $55.97.
Production and skilled trades will also get a $10,000 productivity bonus while temporary part-time workers will get $4,000.
D’Agnolo said taking another step towards reducing and eventually eliminating the salary grid was another key reason for not going all in on pensions.
“It’s divisive having two members working side by side doing the same job with a $13 per hour pay differential,” D’Agnolo said.
“The expectations were high, but I expect things will be viewed differently at different plants. (GM’s) Oshawa plant are all new hires. At most, everyone is only two years into the grid.
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“At the end of the contract, they’ll have seen an 80 per cent pay increase. I think they’ll have a different outlook on this contract when they’re going from $25 per hour to over $46 per hour in three years.”
D’Agnolo also addressed the issue of temporary part-time workers (TPTs) voting on the contract. There was a debate on social media over whether such co-workers should be allowed to vote on the contract.
D’Agnolo said there are 120 TPTs in Local 200’s membership.
“Many didn’t want them (TPTs) to vote and a lot don’t vote,” D’Agnolo said. “They didn’t want them impacting the agreement.
“You can’t do that. It’s against the labour law to not let them vote.
“The whole TPT program is about students and taking care of our members kids.”
Dwaddell@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/winstarwaddell
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