General Motors and the United Auto Workers union have reached a tentative contract agreement that could end a six-week-old strike against Detroit automakers, the union and company said Monday.
The deal follows the pattern set with Ford last week and Jeep maker Stellantis over the weekend.
The agreements will last four years and eight months and include 25-per-cent general pay raises and cost-of-living adjustments. Combined, they bring the wage increase to more than 30 per cent over the life of the contract.
The contract with GM will essentially be the same as the ones reached with the other two automakers but will have differences.
GM eager to open Tennessee plant
GM was the last company to reach a deal, and the union added a factory in Tennessee to the strike list on Saturday in an effort to turn up the pressure. The UAW reached a tentative agreement last week with Ford, and it wasted no time in hitting GM where it hurts financially.
Nearly 4,000 unionized workers on Saturday walked out of GM’s largest North American plant, in Spring Hill, Tenn., hours after the deal with Stellantis was announced. They join about 14,000 GM workers already striking at factories in Texas, Michigan and Missouri.
Spring Hill produces the engines for vehicles assembled at nine plants as far afield as Mexico, including Silverado and Sierra pickups. It’s a big money-maker for GM that amplifies the company’s financial pain after workers walked off the job last week in Arlington, Texas — where full-size SUVs, including the Tahoe and Suburban, are produced. Vehicles assembled at the Spring Hill plant include the electric Cadillac Lyriq, GMC Acadia and Cadillac crossover SUVs.
Union praises ‘historical’ deal
Presidents of the Ford union locals voted unanimously in Detroit on Sunday to endorse that tentative contract after UAW president Shawn Fain explained its details, the union tweeted.
We have a tentative agreement at GM.<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/StandUpUAW?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#StandUpUAW</a> <a href=”https://t.co/UtaWZJurEW”>pic.twitter.com/UtaWZJurEW</a>
As he explained the particulars to the full membership in a later livestream, Fain, along with Chuck Browning, the UAW’s vice-president, said the deal represents a “historical inflection point” for reviving union power in the United States, where “we were being left behind by an economy that only works for the billionaire class.”
“UAW members at Ford will receive more in straight general wage increases over the next 4½ years than we have over the last 22 years combined,” Browning said.
Fain called the deal “a turning point in the class war that has been raging in this country for the past 40 years.”
The Ford and Stellantis pacts, which would run until April 30, 2028, include 25 per cent in general wage increases for top assembly plant workers, with 11 per cent coming once the deal is ratified.
The Ford agreement revives cost-of-living adjustments that the UAW agreed to suspend in 2009 during the Great Recession.
At Stellantis, workers get cost-of-living pay that would bring raises to a compounded 33 per cent, with top assembly plant workers making more than $42 per hour. Top-scale workers there now earn about $31 per hour.
The GM agreement also grants 25 per cent in base wage increases through April 2028, and will cumulatively raise the top wage by 33 per cent compounded with estimated cost-of-living adjustments to over $42 an hour.
Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan, said the Stellantis deal showed that the car companies “feel they are at the mercy of the UAW, that the UAW is not going to give any mercy.”
Bruce Baumhower, president of the local union at a large Stellantis Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, that had been on strike since September, said he expected workers to vote to approve the deal because of pay raises, including the immediate 11-per-cent raise on ratification. “It’s a historic agreement as far as I’m concerned.”
The UAW began targeted strikes against all three automakers on Sept. 15 after its contracts with the companies expired. At the peak, about 46,000 UAW workers were on strike — about one-third of the union’s 146,000 members at all three companies.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.
The deal announced on Thursday by the Toronto-based luxury apparel company comes in the form of an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement with Marchon Eyewear Inc.
The terms and value of the agreement were not disclosed, but Marchon produces eyewear for brands including Lacoste, Nike, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Longchamp and Zeiss.
Marchon plans to roll out both sunglasses and optical wear under the Canada Goose name next spring, starting in North America.
Canada Goose says the eyewear will be sold through optical retailers, department stores, Canada Goose shops and its website.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss told The Canadian Press in August that he envisioned his company eventually expanding into eyewear and luggage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – TD Bank Group, which is mired in a money laundering scandal in the U.S., says chief executive Bharat Masrani will retire next year.
Masrani, who will retire officially on April 10, 2025, says the bank’s, “anti-money laundering challenges,” took place on his watch and he takes full responsibility.
The bank named Raymond Chun, TD’s group head, Canadian personal banking, as his successor.
As part of a transition plan, Chun will become chief operating officer on Nov. 1 before taking over the top job when Masrani steps down at the bank’s annual meeting next year.
TD also announced that Riaz Ahmed, group head, wholesale banking and president and CEO of TD Securities, will retire at the end of January 2025.
TD has taken billions in charges related to ongoing U.S. investigations into the failure of its anti-money laundering program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
