TORONTO — Unifor and General Motors kicked off negotiations on a new labour contract at a downtown Toronto bargaining table Monday, with job security high on the priority list. The union represents more than 4,600 members at Ontario GM facilities, including the Oshawa assembly plant, the CAMI facility in Ingersoll as well as operations in St. Catharines and Woodstock. Unifor national president Lana Payne and Jack Uppal, president and managing director at GM Canada, shook hands to mark the beginning of discussions. Chairs lined the conference room where officials from the union and automaker sat on opposite sides, with Payne sitting in the middle of the room and Uppal sitting directly across. At the centre of these negotiations are how closely a new agreement will match a previous one struck with Ford, issues of laid-off workers at General Motors and how to deal with tariff threats to Canada’s auto industry. “I honestly believe that we have something to prove here,” Payne said at a news conference Monday. “We have to show everyone, including Canadians and especially our members, that this auto industry is here to stay and that General Motors intends to be an important part of that industry for generations to come.” The union has set a target deadline of Aug. 21 to reach a tentative agreement with GM. Uppal said in a news release Monday that the company is entering into negotiations with “profound respect for the collective bargaining process” as well as the role its employees play in its success. “Since 2020, we have invested $3.3 billion in our Canadian manufacturing plants, enabling next-generation products that will secure thousands of Canadian jobs for years to come, and our goal is to reach a mutually beneficial agreement that supports our employees while keeping GM Canada competitive for the long term,” he said. In July, Unifor members approved a new three-year contract with Ford that included three per cent annual pay increases. Other elements of the deal, which takes effect Sept. 21, included a renewal of a no-closure agreement. It also included program commitments at all Ford facilities, like a third shift at its engine plant in Essex, Ont., forecasted for 2029. Unifor and Ford also agreed to introduce a program that provides laid-off workers from the company’s Oakville, Ont., assembly plant a pathway to full employment by July 2027. The union has said the agreement with Ford marked successful pattern-setting negotiations. In pattern bargaining, a union negotiates with one company to set terms that it hopes to replicate with other companies in the same sector. Payne said that the deal with Ford was a “very strong agreement.” However, there are differences between Ford and its other automotive counterparts — GM and Stellantis — that could make those talks more complicated. Namely, General Motors’ Ingersoll assembly plant and Stellantis’ Brampton assembly plant both currently sit idle with thousands of workers laid off. “The economics should not be an issue with General Motors, and we always get to a place where we achieve a pattern, the easy way or the hard way,” Payne said. “With respect to what makes this round different, compared to Ford Motor Co., is we have one-third of our membership on layoff at General Motors. We have underutilized facilities right now, and that’s going to form, I would say, a bulk of a lot of what we talk about in the next two weeks.” The current edition of bargaining between Unifor and the remaining Detroit Three automakers comes alongside headwinds for the sector. The union has previously highlighted challenges such as U.S. tariffs, the Trump administration’s decision not to extend the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, and the introduction of Chinese electric vehicles into Canada. --- Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2026.
