Detroit Three's Canadian workers give union strike mandate
'If we aren't successful here, we have a great, great fear that the Windsor site's days are numbered'
The union representing workers at the Canadian operations of the major U.S. automakers has received a strike mandate from its members as it prepares to negotiate contracts.
Unifor says its members at General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Fiat Chrysler Automobile voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action to back contract demands.
Unifor national president Jerry Dias says the clear mandate shows full support for the union's bargaining committees.
He says the union won't accept deals with any of the three automakers unless they show a commitment to invest in Canada's auto sector.
The union is threatening job action if it doesn't get an agreement before midnight on Sept. 19.
Dias says the three companies have done well financially since the last contracts were negotiated four years ago and it's time to reward workers.
Nationwide, workers at General Motors voted 97.1 per cent in favour of strike action, those at Ford Motor Company voted 98.9 per cent in favour and at Fiat Chrysler Automobile voted 99.0 per cent in favour.
Unifor Local 200 president Chris Taylor, who represents about 1,500, hourly employees at three Ford operations in Windsor, Ont, says this round of contract talks is critical for Ford's future in Windsor.
"This is it, we went from 6,300 members in six plants to 1,500 members in three plants. We have a plant in jeopardy, we know that," Taylor said of the Essex Engine Plant, which has capacity for new product but has no guarantees. "If we aren't successful here, we have a great, great fear that the Windsor site's days are numbered and that is not something that we are going to accept."
More than 98 per cent of Unifor Local 200 voters agreed to the strike mandate.
Ravmilo Avdalovic, who has been working at Ford for 20 years in Windsor, said he is frustrated and just hopes that there will be a new product.
"I can say if we don't get it this time we never will, because it has been so many years we didn't get anything and this site has been killed like no place anywhere in the world," he said.
Avdalovic said the strike mandate will give the union some power.
Unifor has said a new product at Ford's Essex Engine Plant in Windsor is its top priority this round of bargaining.
Over at Unifor Local 444, which represents about 5,000 hourly workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Windsor Assembly Plant, 99 per cent workers who cast ballots voted to give the union a strike mandate as well.
Union won't get 'all of this'
Some observers expect the union will face an uphill battle.
"The union has come up with a very large laundry list," Marvin Ryder, a marketing professor at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, previously told CBC this summer. "There's no way they're going to get all of this."
Ryder said multinational car companies have a lot of choice about where they can make their cars, meaning the automakers will be in the driver's seat during these talks.
"I think the car companies are going to say, 'If you make it too tough for us, we've got alternatives. We can go to Alabama, we can go to Mexico,'" he said. "I'm not sure the car companies want to leave, but I'm not sure how much more they want to put into Canada either."
With files from the Canadian Press, CBC Business