Canada union, Ford agree to tentative deal

US automaker Ford Motor and Canadian labor union Unifor have agreed to a tentative contract agreement hours after the prior one expired, avoiding a strike.

Details of the new agreement were not released. The two sides had extended negotiations by 24 hours after the expiration of the prior contract at midnight on Monday.

A strike at Ford's Canadian operations,which include two engine plants and an SUV plant, could have rippled into the US supply chain. The engine plants supply their products to multiple US facilities, although those plants have access to other engines they can use in the vehicles they produce.

Unifor will use the tentative agreement to set the tone for agreements between Ford, General Motors (GM) and Stellantis with the 18,000 union-represented workers at those company's Canadian operations.

In the US, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union began striking all three automakers on 15 September, targeting one facility at each company. The scope of the current strike may expand Friday afternoon if union leadership determines that not enough progress has been made in negotiations.

In response to the UAW strike, integrated steelmaker US Steel idled its remaining active blast furnace at its Granite City, Illinois, mill this week.

By Rye Druzin