Latest news with #UniforLocal195
CTV News
5 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
‘Scab' workers brought to downtown Windsor hotel on second day of Unifor strike
Workers strike in front of Windsor's Best Western Plus hotel on Riverside Drive West in Windsor, Ont. on June 3, 2025. (Michelle Maluske/CTV News Windsor) Replacement workers went to the Best Western Plus hotel on Monday, according to company and union officials, leading to Windsor police being called to the picket line. 'They (workers) were not happy and excited to see somebody blatantly crossing the picket line,' Unifor Local 195 President Emile Nabbout told CTV News Tuesday. 'They were asking those who scab to refrain from entering the facility.' Nabbout did not have further details but said an 'altercation' occurred. Tyler McDiarmid, a spokesperson for Ironwood Management Corp., is alleging an assault occurred, but Windsor police will only say they are investigating. Ironwood operates the Best Western Plus for Farhi Holdings Corp. It's a tense start to a strike that only started on Sunday morning, to back contract demands for 40 people. Both the company and the union said wages are a key stumbling block in negotiations. 'The vast majority of hotel workers are not compensated as well as the workers at the Best Western Plus,' McDiarmid told CTV News in a statement, adding they have increased pay in the last three years despite soaring costs. That's a comment Nabbout disputes. '$18.02 is not even a living wage. You cannot even put the Kraft Dinner on the table to support your family,' Nabbout said. 'And now, the employer (has) the audacity to say this (offer) on the table, it is more than fair?' The union is also accusing the company of trying to claw back bereavement leave while the company is critical of the union for not taking their final offer to the workforce. The strike at Best Western Plus on Riverside Drive started on Sunday.
CBC
05-04-2025
- Automotive
- CBC
Windsor's wait and see: Workers laid off for 2 weeks 'just the beginning'
Social Sharing For thousands of Stellantis workers in Windsor-Essex, Friday marked their last shift for two weeks. The manufacturer says it's pausing production at the Windsor Assembly Plant – where employees assemble Pacifica minivans – in large part due to U.S. President Donald Trump's newly implemented tariffs. On Thursday, the Trump administration kicked off 25 per cent tariffs on imported vehicles. In early May, the administration will apply the same tariff to auto parts. Companies importing under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) will have the opportunity to pay lower tariffs based on the volume of U.S. content in their cars and parts, the administration has said. But that process is still murky and undefined, leaving manufacturers – and their employees – in financial limbo. According to Stellantis, 3,200 workers at the WAP will be off the job for now. But there are likely to be hundreds more in the region that will be affected by the downtime. That's because a web of local feeder plants provide the parts needed to assemble vehicles like the Pacifica. Unifor Local 195, which represents some of these facilities, says at least 600 jobs could be immediately affected. Jan Griffiths, a former auto supplier executive, says "this is just the beginning." "The auto assembly plants sit at the top of the pyramid, if you will," she said. "There's a multitude of businesses, parts manufacturers, that support this industry. And we are inextricably linked, Canada, Mexico, the U.S. [...] and you cannot unravel those supply chains overnight." Glenn Stevens Jr., head of MichAuto — an industry association connected to the Detroit Regional Chamber — says he isn't aware of any suppliers on the U.S. side of the border who have been hit with layoffs yet as a result of the Stellantis closure in Windsor. "But we know that they will be impacted, of course, as are the shift workers at the plant," he said. He said companies he's spoken with are figuring out how best to weather the storm. "Generally what they're trying to do in a situation like this, where you know your input costs are going to go up, you're trying to conserve cash. You're trying to do as much as you can to cut back, cut costs wherever you can. Look at your inventories," he said. "And then there's just a lot of assessment of the supply chain going on, a lot of scenario planning." The companies aren't just dealing with automotive tariffs – Trump has slapped tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, as well as a host of other countries, that will affect the industry. "There's no question that it's a significant shock to the system, that companies are making decisions," he said. Down the road from the WAP, some retired auto workers criticized the U.S. trade war. "They're hurting everybody and they're going to over here and in the states," said Wayne Ferguson. "There's no reason for them really. "It's going to hurt the city big time."
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Possible tariffs 'untenable' for auto sector, as latest threats cause uncertainty in Windsor
One Windsor car salesman says he's in wait and see mode after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs of up to 100 per cent on Canadian-made automobiles. Jeff Pawluck, the new car sales manager at Motor City Chrysler, says he hasn't heard much from his staff yet about the tariff threat. "We've had a couple of sales guys say that they got messages that people were worried maybe about their job," Pawluck said. "We haven't heard that much of it yet because we just don't know the impact." Jeff Pawluck, the new car sales manager at Motor City Chrysler. He says he hasn't heard much from his staff yet about the tariff threat. (Chris Ensing/CBC) Pawluck says he and the industry have survived hard times before, such as the 2008 financial crisis, and he hasn't made any major moves in response to the latest threat. He has not, for example, been stocking up on cars, because it costs money to have inventory sit on the lot. But he said consumers considering a car purchase do have some warning of possible price increases ahead. "You know, if a person is looking at something in … the immediate future, is it probably going to be cheaper today than it would be if there [were] tariffs put on? Probably a million per cent." Trump made the tariff threats during an interview with Fox News on Monday. "If we don't make a deal with Canada, we're going to put a big tariff on cars," he said. "Could be a 50 or 100 per cent because we don't want their cars, we want to make cars in Detroit." Trump made the comments the same day he imposed 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports. He previously threatened 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian products and 10 per cent on energy. The president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association said his members have "deep concern" with the latest remarks. "This industry has been founded on integration," Brian Kingston said. "That's what makes Canada and North America competitive as an auto manufacturing jurisdiction. … So when proposals come forward to put in place tariffs that is effectively a tax. It raises costs, it has impacts on production and it challenges the competitiveness of the industry in a very very challenging global environment now." The CEO of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association called the possible tariffs "clearly untenable on a whole pile of levels." Dennis Darby said Canada needs to get to the bottom of what the tariff threats are really about. "This is clearly not about protecting or improving American jobs at this stage," he said. "I'm hopeful that the care companies in the U.S. … will speak up. It's going to have to be American stakeholders who speak up because I can't think of any other way out of this. The president of Unifor Local 195, which represents some smaller manufacturers in the auto sector, said the union and the government have worked hard to attract investment to Windsor. Emile Nabbout is the president of Unifor Local 195. (Chris Ensing/CBC) He said he hopes Trump's actions will not lead to investors changing their mind about Canada and moving south of the border. But Emile Nabbout said that chaos can lead to opportunity. "We have to be relying on ourselves," Nabbout said. "We learned this from COVID that we shouldn't be relying on other countries in the minute of chaos. This is the second wake up call for all our political leadership in this country." Canada, Nabbout said, needs a comprehensive industrial policy that covers everything from natural resources up to manufacturing, one that will protect Canadians going forward.
