Auto Parts Workers Build Solidarity

Auto Parts Workers Build Solidarity

In meetings across Ontario this month, Unifor auto parts locals are working together, building solidarity and discussing bargaining strategies in hopes of improving their collective agreements in the next rounds of negotiations.

“The people in this room have the answers,” Unifor Ontario Region Director Katha Fortier told the May 5 meeting in Kitchener.

The meetings – also in London, Windsor, Oshawa and Brampton – are seeking shop-floor ideas on how to build solidarity and stronger collective agreements within the sector, which represents about 17,000 workers. Unifor Assistant to the President Shane Wark said that while the sector is doing much better than after the financial crisis, it still faces many challenges. The meetings, he said, are being held to generate discussions on getting the best deal in the next round of talks.

“With the challenges we face today, we need to think about doing things differently.”

At the meetings, each table of activists is given an issue to discuss, such as young workers, contract length, standardized wages, grow-ins and more, and asked to come up with solutions for addressing them.