UAW strike day 26: GM walkout in Canada adds to pressure

It was the 26th day of the United Auto Workers’ strike against the Detroit Three automakers when the Canadian autoworkers union began striking General Motors Co. as well.

Following a self-imposed deadline, Unifor shortly after midnight on Tuesday declared the walkouts of 4,300 workers at the Oshawa Assembly Complex making light- and heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks and parts for other vehicles, the St. Catharines Powertrain Plant building engines for the Chevrolet Equinox and Corvette, and the Woodstock Parts Distribution Centre in Ontario.

The strike in Canada has the potential to affect negotiations with the UAW in the United States. It increases the pressure on GM to make a deal and get affected North American operations up and running again. It also could affect U.S. operations that produce for Oshawa or use parts from St. Catharines.

“It puts more pressure on GM all across North America to lose its Canadian operations,” said Art Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School. “There is a lot of cross-border traffic.”

The UAW has 25,300 of its members at the Detroit Three on strike out of a total of 146,000. GM has seen the unprecedented simultaneous targeted “stand-up” strike against all three automakers expanded more times against it than the other two.

The union initially sent out workers to the picket line at its midsize pickup and commercial van plant in Wentzville, Missouri, outside St. Louis. Then followed workers across the country at its parts distribution centers. A week later, UAW members at the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave plant in Delta Township outside Lansing, Michigan, went on strike.

But the union spared GM from additional pain last week after the automaker made a last-minute agreement to include joint-venture electric-vehicle battery manufacturing plant workers in its master agreement. The details of that move still haven’t been made public, but it was enough of a concession that the union decided not to send workers in Arlington, Texas, making profit-heavy full-size SUVs on strike.

The strikes at GM have resulted in about 2,330 workers being laid off at other locations because of parts constraints or having nowhere to send product.

The Unifor strike could mean more is to come. GM is assessing how it will affect production of popular products in the United States.

“It’s kind of a mixed blessing,” Wheaton said. “It’ll probably shut down a lot of GM plants, because of the Canadian operations being down. It’s a lot of pressure for GM. It’s a lot of pressure for Unifor. It eases the pain for the UAW, because they’re not going to see a strike here in the U.S. if they’re already shut down from the Canadian operations. We’ll see what happens now and on Friday, when they’re likely to announce the next one.”

UAW members laid off because of the U.S. union’s strike aren’t eligible for unemployment in Michigan. The union has said it’s providing the same $500 weekly stipend to those workers as it is to members on strike. Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock on Sunday said the Strike and Defense Fund, which sat at more than $825 million prior to the strike at the Detroit Three that began on Sept. 15, was “healthy,” though an exact figure wasn’t available.

Meanwhile, at Ford Motor Co. workers at its Bronco and Ranger Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne and its Explorer, Lincoln Aviator and Police Interceptor plant in Chicago are on strike. Stellantis’ employees at the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator plant in Toledo, Ohio, and its Mopar parts distribution centers across the country are on strike.

Ford also has laid off 1,865 workers, and Stellantis has a total of 640 employees on layoff. UAW leaders at Stellantis gave positive signs of movement earlier this week toward a deal.

Unifor already has a deal with Ford. With 54% approving, rank-and-file members there passed an agreement that increases wages by 10% the first year, 2% the second year and 3% the year after. It includes cost-of-living adjustments and reduces the amount of time an in-progression employee needs to reach the top of the pay scale to four years from eight.

Pattern bargaining calls upon the automakers to follow the economic agreements made at the first company. Unifor, however, indicated GM was resisting transitioning full-time temporary workers to permanent-employee status and was seeking a lower universal health-care allowance for retirees than the quarterly allowance Ford agreed to.

“GM Canada,” spokesperson Jennifer Wright said in a statement, “remains at the bargaining table and is committed to keep working with Unifor to reach an agreement that is fair and flexible.”