Canadian Union Approves Ford Contract, Ends Strike

About 12,800 Canadian Auto Workers ended a 9-day-old strike against Ford Motor Co.’s Canada subsidiary by overwhelmingly approving a new contract Sunday.

The union voted 91% in favor of the tentative agreement reached Friday.

The strike, which started Sept. 15, had idled Ford’s nine Canadian plants, all in Ontario. Production at Ford’s U.S. plants, some of which rely on Canadian components, had been threatened by the strike, company officials said. Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. is 94% owned by Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford Motor Co.

Assembly line workers were expected to return to work today. Some workers were expected to return Sunday night to set up equipment for production, said CAW President Robert White.

The contract provides for a 7.5% increase in wages in the first year, 6.7% in the second and 4.8% in the third, including a cost-of-living allowance.

That means workers now earning the base rate of $17.83 an hour will get $21.41 by the end of the contract.

Workers also will get three extra days off a year, which will be scheduled to give them four-day weekends. That will give Ford workers nine four-day work weeks a year, once statutory holidays are taken into account.

Among other benefits: one year’s notice of any workplace closing; six months’ notice of any job loss as a result of technological change; special programs to pay workers who take early retirement; and income supplements of up to three years for workers who lose their jobs.

The deal with Ford clears the way for the union to negotiate contracts with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. The union picked Ford as its strike target following separate preliminary talks with GM and Chrysler.

As in the past, the contract is expected to form the basis for agreements with the other two companies.

GM and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative agreement last week on a three-year contract.