Unifor ratifies Ford deal with 54% approval; pact includes wage increase, new pension structure

Pension improvements

On pensions, another of Unifor’s core priorities in this round of bargaining, members currently on defined contribution pension plans will be switched to superior defined benefits plans starting Jan. 1, 2025.

In the current DC plans, Ford contributes 4 percent of an employee’s earnings up to 2,080 hours to the plan. Under the DB plan, the automaker will contribute 7 percent of earnings. Employees pay 4 percent of earnings into the plans in both scenarios.

Ford Canada CEO Bev Goodman said the deal will ensure the company’s Canadian operations “continue to deliver.”

“This contract invests in our talented and dedicated employees, who remain consistently focused on the critical work of assembling our vehicles, building our engines and components, improving customer satisfaction, and expediting parts delivery service to our more than 400 dealers,” she said in a release.

The 15 percent general wage increase included in the deal, the company added, is the “largest uplift in Ford of Canada history.”

Full-time Ford employees will also get a $10,000 “Productivity and Quality” signing bonus, while temporary and part-time workers will get $4,000.

Unifor’s significant gains at the bargaining table come amid heightened labor tension in both Canada and the U.S.

While Ford workers north of the border now have a contract running through Sept. 20, 2026, workers at the Detroit 3 in the U.S. remain partially on strike. UAW workers at one Ford, one General Motors and one Stellantis assembly plant walked out Sept. 15, and the union expanded the strike to 38 more GM and Stellantis parts facilities on Friday.

In Canada, Unifor will now look to apply its gains with Ford to its collective agreements with GM and Stellantis as part of its patterned bargaining strategy. The union has not disclosed which automaker it plans to target next.