Barely 24 hours after securing a three-year contract for 280 Unifor members at ZF-TRW, the union is in talks with the second of four plants that supply the Windsor Assembly Plant, HBPO.
The contract with ZF-TRW set a pattern of negotiations with HBPO, Avancez, and Dakkota, and Unifor Local 444 President Dave Cassidy doesn't anticipate any hiccups in talks.
"HBPO knows what the pattern is, and HBPO is going to eat the pattern," said Cassidy, heading into his first meeting with the company.
Seventy-six per cent of the membership at ZF-TRW ratified the deal on Monday.
Unifor Local 444 represents 100 workers at HBPO, which makes front-end components for Stellantis.
"We have some nuances on the non-monetary issues," explained Cassidy. "We'll make sure we set the non-monetary issues up. However, the monetary package is going to be accepted by HBPO."
After HBPO, the union starts negotiating with Avancez, but talks with Dakkota may be more complicated.
That company lost its supply contract with Stellantis to rival CPK. The new contract begins in June. The change has some members at Dakkota wondering about their future.
"They will have a job," declared Cassidy. "I'm not sure with whom, but they will have a job."
He said his local will sit down with management at CPK. In the meantime, the picture at Dakkota should emerge soon.
"Dakkota hasn't revealed to us what their future product is," said Cassidy. "However, Dakkota has an obligation under the law to tell us what their future obligations are as we head into bargaining."
Members at all four plants voted 100 per cent in favour of strike action if necessary.
Cassidy also sat down with Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development Mary Ng and Canada's Ambassador to the U.S., Kristen Hillman. He described the meeting as productive, saying they discussed the new free trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico and learning the skill set of asylum seekers staying in Windsor.
Hillman, Ng, and Francois-Phillippe Champagne, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, are touring sites in Canada and the U.S.
On Tuesday, the three toured the Detroit site of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
* with files from Mark Brown and Maureen Revait