After a contentious negotiation process culminating in a strike that only lasted hours, Canadian union Unifor has reached a tentative agreement with the last of the Detroit 3 in negotiations, Stellantis.

This follows ratifying pattern agreements with both Ford Canada and General Motors.

“I am proud of our members at every Stellantis facility for their quick and decisive action during this brief and effective strike action,” said Unifor national president Lana Payne in a press release. “This agreement will considerably improve the living standards of every Unifor member at Stellantis.”

Stellantis may have been the last in negotiations, but of the Big 3 automakers, the OEM has the largest operational footprint, biggest workforce, and most vehicle products manufactured in Canada, Unifor said.

This agreement — still tentative — covers 8,200 Unifor Members at the Windsor Assembly Plant, Brampton Assembly Plant, Etobicoke Casting Plant, and parts distribution centers in Mississauga and Red Deer.

“Our members and our bargaining team stood firm in our resolve to reach a strong agreement that follows the union’s core economic pattern and all of the issues specific to our individual Stellantis facilities,” said Unifor Stellantis master bargaining chair James Stewart in the Unifor press release.  “The agreement puts in place all the elements of our pattern agreement, the protections autoworkers need throughout the EV transition, and next-generation products our members will build for years to come.”

Similar to the additional GM and Ford contracts, the tentative agreement with Stellantis follows the same pattern agreement. The agreement remains yet to be ratified at time of publication.

Unifor provided highlights of the new agreement, including the following and more:

  • Base hourly wage increases of nearly 20% for production and 25% for Skilled Trades over the lifetime of agreement.
  • By the end of the three-year agreement, a top-rate production assembler will be paid $44.52 per hour, in addition to a forecasted $1.61 cost of living allowance (a total of $46.13); a journeyperson skilled trades worker will be paid $55.97 per hour, in addition to a forecasted $1.61 cost of living allowance (a total of $57.58).
  • General wage increases in each year of the agreement with 10% in year one, 2% in year two and 3% in year three.

The news of the tentative agreement, as aforementioned, came on Monday after a tense weekend.

Early Sunday, Unifor expressed negotiations were continuing with Stellantis with “progress being made.”

Later that day, Unifor announced to its members that strike action would commence at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday for all Stellantis facilities. Unifor said at the time it was making progress and would continue to negotiate through the night.

Early Monday, a Unifor statement to its members said a tentative agreement has been reached with Stellantis, ending strike action at all Unifor facilities.

“While brief, our strike action was an important act of solidarity and determination. It demonstrated the strength of our union and provided your bargaining team with the means to achieve a tentative agreement that meets both the core economic demands in the union’s pattern agreement and our Stellantis specific demands,” said the Unifor statement.

The union advised members to report for their next scheduled shift.

The industry is still waiting to see the Stelantis agreement ratified, at the time of publication of this story on Tuesday.

Unifor, Canada’s largest union in the private sector, represents 315,000 workers across the economy in total.