TORONTO — The autoworkers’ union is set to begin formal negotiations on Wednesday with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford Motor Company and General Motors, in what one observer calls “the fight of their life”.
Unifor, which represents about 20,000 Canadian workers between the three companies, said the recent COVID-19 pandemic has stoked uncertainty about future job security as economies struggle.
“This round of talks is especially unique and challenging,” said the union, on its website outlining the auto talks. “This year’s contract talks will pivot on good jobs and future investment.”
Ford also said that “global economic uncertainties” have stressed the importance of maintaining jobs in Canada.
“We’ll be asking our employees to work with us to help shape this new reality together,” said spokeswoman Rose Pao in a statement.
The negotiations will focus on collective agreements that expire Sept. 21. The union said that it will identify on Sept. 8 its “strike target” — the manufacturer it will target first to set a pattern for the other agreements.
Unifor national president Jerry Dias says he will be on the lookout for any attempts by the manufacturers to use COVID-19 as an “excuse.” He says other than improving wage increases, he expects major battlegrounds will be a new product investment from Ford in Oakville, putting a stop to outsourcing Ford parts depots, and restoring the third shift in Fiat Chrysler’s Windsor and Brampton facilities. Dias is also eyeing the 2023 expiration of major programs in GM’s powertrain operation in St. Catharines.
While recent trade policy changes, when enacted, will improve the state of play, Dias says the government needs to do more to attract electric vehicle investments to Canada.
“This is an industry that pays a lot of taxes,” says Dias. “And it’s a lot of jobs. So everybody’s going to have to start to row together in the right direction.”
Ian Lee, associate professor of management at Sprott School of Business at Carleton University, says the economic pressure on the auto industry has created an uphill battle for unions.
“GM, Ford, FCA, I think they’re increasingly in the driver’s seat,” says Lee.
“Unifor, in these upcoming negotiations, they’re in the fight of their life. I think that there is not going to be so much on wages. I think it’s going to be, ‘Can we save the plants that are left?’”
The new round of negotiations come as the industry is still dealing with fallout from the novel coronavirus. For example, FCA plants in Canada were down from March 18 to May 4, and GM plants were closed between March 16 and May 25, after which they gradually reopened.
Like previous recessions, auto sales also sputtered during the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak. DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. said that auto sales plunged 48 per cent year-over-year in March, but by July, sales had fallen just 4.9 per cent, the smallest decrease since the pandemic began.
Nonetheless, DesRosiers predicted that annual sales rates will remain flat for one to two years.
The new negotiations will be set against the background of the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which went into force July 1.
The deal included a provision that a significant percentage of the value of a car be produced by workers earning the equivalent of at least US$16 per hour, something the Canadian government said could improve Canadian automotive manufacturing’s competitiveness compared to that of Mexico.
While some trade policy changes, when enacted, will improve the state of play, Dias says the government needs to do more to attract electric vehicle investments to Canada.
“This is an industry that pays a lot of taxes,” says Dias. “And it’s a lot of jobs. So everybody’s going to have to start to row together in the right direction.”
Between 1999 and 2017, Canada dropped to the No. 10 auto manufacturing country in the world, down from No. 4 in 1999, Unifor previously estimated.
“Mexico is building smaller cars, in a threat to Canada. But I’ve argued that the biggest threat to Canada is not Mexico. It’s the southern United States,” says Lee.
“In the American South, it’s not only wages that are lower … taxes are lower, state taxes are lower, land costs are lower, cost of living is lower.”
In 2016, GM was targeted by the union, which cited the company’s financial surplus and asked for new allocations for vehicles and powertrain and better incentives for new hires and retirees.
The agreements, which can be hundreds of pages in length, ended up converting 700 jobs at GM and securing a $713-million investment and 500 jobs from Ford, among other issues.
Last year marked the culmination of downsizing at a GM plant in Oshawa, Ont. The plant east of Toronto now has about 300 workers, down from about 2,600.
“There’s going to be a great temptation for the three companies: When they close down these particular cars as a segment, they will not replace them. If you don’t replace them, you close up a plant,” says Lee.
This report by the Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2020.
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
