Unifor Local 444 President happy that Stellantis agreement was ratified

The President of Unifor Local 444 he's happy that a deal for members at Stellantis were ratified. 

Dave Cassidy is reacting to the news released Monday afternoon that Unifor members at Stellantis ratified new agreements.

Voting by members took place over the weekend, including for members employed at the Windsor Assembly Plant. 

Master Production and Maintenance Agreement at Windsor Assembly ratified 60 per cent overall, which Cassidy says could have been higher, but it could have been lower as well. 

He says at the end of the day, it comes down to how members vote on the deal presented to them. 

Members at Stellantis will receive the same wage increases, pension improvements and electric vehicle transition income security measures as members at Ford and General Motors.

This contract also confirms investment and product commitments for Windsor, Brampton and Etobicoke, including the retooling of Brampton Assembly to build future EV's.

Cassidy says there is still some work to do.

"40 per cent of our membership is not happy, although 60 per cent is, so I don't know based on everybody that came out what the turnout numbers was. I've got to still get that because it's pretty fresh off the press so far, so we'll see what those numbers are. But the membership always decides, ultimately, and they decided that they agree with this agreement."

He says Stellantis came out in the middle between Ford and GM. 

"Ford Motor Company was 54 per cent, and we knew that General Motors would be higher because they had the younger workers in there, that a lot of the agreement focused on, so we knew that would be a little bit higher. So we were wondering, we came in second I guess out of three."

Cassidy says Stellantis met the pattern agreement. 

"We've got a few things that were above pattern, we got our core priorities met on the EV transition, our wage package, and our pensions, some of our retirees have reached out and weren't happy. However, there's a lot that reached out and said they were, and they know that we opened the door and we broke through for something to build on."

The new contract expires on September 20, 2026. 

The three-year collective agreements cover approximately 8,200 Unifor members. 

This ratification wraps up the union's three month-long Auto Talks with the Detroit Three automakers.