Stellantis workers give union authorization to strike as talks with automaker stalled

TORONTO — Stellantis workers in Canada have voted to give their union a mandate to strike.

Unifor says 97.3 per cent of members who took part in the vote over the weekend were in favour of authorizing a potential strike.

The union is not yet in a legal strike position as neither it nor Stellantis have requested a “no board” report, which is one of the steps necessary under labour law required for a job action.

Unifor, which represents more than 9,000 Stellantis workers in Canada, said it still believes there is a path to reaching a new collective agreement with Stellantis “so long as the company honours its commitments and does right by its workers.”

“Strike action is always a last resort, but we will not back down and accept a deal that weakens Stellantis’ footprint within Canada’s auto industry due to broken commitments that further cause devastation for our members, families and communities that rely on good union auto jobs,” said James Stewart, Unifor’s Stellantis master bargaining chairperson.

The previous collective agreement between Stellantis and the union expired Sept. 20 without the two sides coming to terms on a new tentative deal.

In response to the Unifor vote, Stellantis spokesperson LouAnn Gosselin reiterated the company’s previous statement that it hopes to return to the bargaining table.

— The Canadian Press