Ford, Unifor reach tentative three-year deal for 5,150 Canadian workers

Ford and Unifor reached a tentative three-year national labor agreement covering 5,150 workers at Canadian Ford facilities. The agreement lands as the union tries to set a benchmark for rival talks with General Motors and Stellantis.

The bargaining committee unanimously endorsed the deal, and ratification meetings are scheduled for July 17-19. The contract covers workers at the Oakville Assembly Complex, Windsor Annex, the Essex Engine Plant, parts distribution centres in Paris and Casselman, Ontario, and Leduc, Alberta.

Negotiations began on June 22, earlier than the union’s usual timetable, after Unifor said worsening economic conditions and U.S. tariffs on Canada-made vehicles and parts had raised uncertainty over production and investment. The union set a July 10 deadline to reach a tentative agreement with Ford, the company it wants to anchor a pattern agreement for the Detroit Three in Canada. Unifor represents nearly 19,000 workers across Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, and about 6,000 workers have already been laid off across the three automakers as plants slow or shift production.

The three current collective agreements expire on September 20. Canada’s finance department has moved to blunt the damage from U.S. auto tariffs with countermeasures and a remission framework designed to encourage investment and job growth in the country.

The new tentative deal also follows the 2023 Ford settlement, which covered more than 5,600 workers and was ratified by 54% of members. That three-year contract brought wage increases, a restored cost-of-living allowance, pension changes, EV-transition protections and a $10,000 productivity and quality bonus. Ford later reversed its Oakville plan in 2024, shifting the Ontario plant from an all-electric program to F-Series Super Duty truck production, a change that brought workers back sooner than the original EV timeline.