Why Unifor's Local 444 president supports the tentative deal for Stellantis workers

Stellantis employees in Windsor have to wait until Saturday to vote on their new tentative contract, but Unifor has already released highlights.

The union says the three-year deal would give most workers a total of 20 per cent in wage increases.The cost of living allowance will be reactivated, and wage progression for junior employees has been cut in half.

And there's also a $10,000 signing bonus for full-time employees, with part-timers getting $4,000.

The deal was struck following a strike that lasted seven hours.

Unifor Local 444 President Dave Cassidy, who represents Windsor Stellantis workers, says despite the company pushing there were no concessions from the union in this agreement.

"Not one," he told CBC Radio's Windsor Morning.

"We went in making it very clear to the employer that we are not going backwards. We knew that going in and that it was our time to make some gains."

A Stellantis spokesperson said out of respect for the bargaining process the company would refrain from commenting on specifics until the ratification process is complete.

LISTEN | Dave Cassidy speaks with Windsor Morning about securing tentative deal with Stellantis:

Windsor Morning10:46Stellantis deal

Dave Cassidy, president of Unifor Local 444, speaks with CBC Windsor Morning host Amy Dodge about a tentative agreement with Stellantis.

Cassidy saidthe union knew it had "momentum" in negotiations and that the short-lived strike was what they needed to get across the finish line on a few "big points."

"We weren't there yet. That's why we had to pull our labour at midnight. I think that kept the pressure on them."

Cassidy spoke with Windsor Morning host Amy Dodge. Here's part of that conversation.

We are hearing workers are pleased with the deal so far. Was that what you expected when you walked away from the table?

Yeah. I've been very clear to our membership.

You're always going to have people who are never going to leave things. But this deal would not have been brought back to our membership if it wasn't something I supported.

People know me well enough that if I'm the one to speak up, if things aren't good, then I will speak up and make sure that we either get it in line or we don't have a deal.

So the deal that we're bringing back to, I'm very happy to present to our membership.

People always say that Canada stops in London. Well, I'm quite the opposite these days. I can tell you that manufacturing in Canada starts in Windsor and Essex.- Dave Cassidy, Unifor Local 444 president

This agreement was seen as an opportunity to bring Stellantis workers up to the others: GM and Ford. Do you have that with this deal?

These jobs used to be really premium jobs. Let's make no mistake about it. But with the downturn in the economy I mean, it's obviously coming back.

These are not the premium jobs that they used to be. People are on layoff all the time.

We have some subsidies that we have bargained over the years. However, when you're junior employees, you don't always get those same subsidies. So there's been some problems.

People always say that Canada stops in London. Well, I'm quite the opposite these days. I can tell you that manufacturing in Canada starts in Windsor and Essex.

It's seen as a historic win for the junior workers because of the 20 to 25 per cent wage increase. What's your thoughts on that?

It's right across the board. There's things that we started with our retirees. That's been a long time since we've had any gains.

Our legacy workers, the junior workers reducing the grow-in, everybody understands with those things that we need to do with amenities are very divisive.

You know what we had to do? We had to get very creative back in the day to make sure that we stayed viable.

We're not about to start to compete with the Mexicos of the world. We can't do it.

We export more than we sell, obviously in Canada. So it's important that we are very competitive and we're staying very competitive.

What does this message sort of send to the legacy members? I'm thinking about the more experienced workers who are now going to be making similar pay as the junior workers.

Back 30 years ago when I started, there was a grow-in of about 18 months. And it's always been that way.

You earn your keep and then your seniority gives you that bid on better jobs.

It wasn't about making more money than the person working next to you. It was about everybody being equal there.

The legacy workers have done very well in this contract as well. I've been there 30 years and I know this is the best contract that I have received in 30 years.

WATCH | Unifor says Stellantis pushed to outsource jobs:

Unifor says Stellantis pushed to outsource jobs

12 months ago

Duration 4:38

Unifor national president Lana Payne discusses the deal reached with Stellantis that 8,200 employees primarily in Brampton, Ont., and Windsor, Ont., will vote on over the weekend.

What deals or what can you tell us about the conversations around the EV plant?

[On] social media I get a lot of messages back, but the EV plant for our workers at Windsor Assembly Plant does nothing. They're already employed.

This is for people down the road. But make no mistake, all of these plants that are going to be tied to the joint venture, we are going to be organizing these.

I want to be clear that was not the sticking point that was not going to be a deal breaker at that point, because the facts of the matter, it does nothing for our membership that is already employed at Windsor Assembly Plant.

Do you think the deal will be ratified on Saturday?

I do. I'm not bringing something back to our membership that I don't think is the best thing. We put our heart and soul into it. We made sure that we did some Stellantis specific things.

People talk about pattern and I've been very vocal about that. Our membership said that pattern was a good number and we made some changes. We held the line.

We made sure that we brought the things back that were important, that were on the sheet, things that we could achieve.

And that's what it's all about, about collective bargaining. I'm looking forward to Saturday morning and bringing the deal back.

When we saw the votes with GM and Ford, they were very different on their deals and we know it follows pattern bargaining. So I'm just wondering, do you think it'll be a narrow acceptance?

I think the national union, the leadership learned from Ford. Ford did theirs virtually.

We are meeting in front of our members. I want to hear from our members. I want to see our members. I want to talk to our members. We don't hide from anything.

They changed the General Motors [vote] and they had it in person. And the votes were a lot better.

And I surmise that's going to transpire the same at Windsor assembly.