Ford reaches tentative 3-year labor deal with Unifor in Canada

Ford Motor and Unifor reached a tentative three-year labor agreement covering more than 5,000 unionized employees in Canada, giving the union an early test case as it pushes into talks with General Motors and Stellantis. The deal, announced July 11, came after bargaining that began June 22 and continued past Unifor’s self-imposed July 10 deadline at the Sheraton Centre Toronto.

The tentative pact covers 5,150 workers at Ford facilities across Canada, including members of Unifor Locals 707, 200, 584, 1087, 240 and 1324. The sites include the Oakville Assembly Complex, Windsor Annex, Essex Engine Plants, and parts distribution centres in Paris and Casselman, Ontario, and Leduc, Alberta. Unifor said its bargaining committee unanimously recommended the agreement, and members will vote later this month before it can take effect.

The timing matters because the existing Canadian collective agreements with Ford, GM and Stellantis are set to expire on September 20. Unifor represents nearly 19,000 workers across the three automakers, and it opened this round earlier than usual, saying tariff and trade uncertainty, uneven demand and production shifts had already led to about 6,000 layoffs across the three companies’ plants. A Ford settlement now gives Unifor a live benchmark before the broader round reaches its most delicate phase.

What the tentative contract contains has not been disclosed, but the pattern is familiar. In 2023, Unifor’s Ford agreement covered more than 5,600 workers and delivered the highest wage increases in the history of Canadian auto bargaining, along with pension changes and protections tied to the electric-vehicle transition. That history raises the stakes for this year’s talks: any gains on pay, benefits, retirement security or EV job guarantees at Ford could set the floor for the rest of the Detroit Three in Canada.

Unifor has argued that a fair deal at Ford offers the best chance of reaching similar agreements with GM and Stellantis, a view that will now be tested in real time. Ford’s Canadian human resources vice president, Meredith Keenan, issued the company’s statement on the tentative agreement, while Unifor National President Lana Payne said securing a deal was vital for Canada’s auto workers and domestic industry. With ratification still pending, the Ford settlement is both a labor truce and a signal of the wage pressure and job-security demands that could define the next phase of North American auto bargaining.