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Despite an aggressive employer determined to cut their wages and eliminate their pension plan, the members of Unifor Local 1980 at Autoliv Electronics held firm and saved their pension with just minutes to go before a strike deadline last week.
“This contract also puts us in a strong position going into future talks,” said Aaron Cheung, the vice-president of the local and a member of the bargaining team.
That’s because every change to the Income Tax Act has meant renegotiating some aspect of the pension plan for the 100 members of Local 1980 – the last employees at the Markham auto parts plant to have a defined benefit pension. But with this contract, any future tax act changes are automatically incorporated into the pension.
“That took away one of their best bargaining chips,” Cheung said. The local was also able to negotiate a 2 per cent increase to the pension.
The deal came just before midnight Feb 1, minutes before a strike deadline, and was later ratified by the membership. The members, professional engineers at the plant, had earlier given their bargaining team a 100 per cent strike mandate.
“The company never expected such a strong mandate,” said Marco Baroogh, financial secretary of the local.
Also unexpected was a show of support from the 600 production workers at the plant, members of the IAM. When Unifor members started wearing buttons in support of their bargaining team, individual IAM members started asking for buttons to wear in solidarity.
“That really turned the tide,” Baroogh said.
Besides the pension, the Unifor members also negotiated wage increases of 2.5, 2.5 and 3 per cent, National Representative Kim Power said, and several language and benefits improvements.
“In the end, the support of the members made this deal possible,” Power said.
