Brothers and Sisters,
There is no question that we are in unprecedented times due to the outbreak of covid-19, rightfully so many people have been concerned for their health and safety and that of their family.
Since the start of the pandemic last Thursday, the leadership at Unifor Local 707 has been in constant meetings with Oakville Assembly Complex Management, with concerns over the Health & Safety of our workplace during this COVID-19 outbreak. The health and safety of our members is the top priority of the Local Union Leadership and we want to ensure the virus does not have the opportunity to spread throughout our workforce. While we have resolved some issues, despite constant dialogue we were not satisfied with the progress, as many of our concerns were unresolved.
As the spread of this virus rapidly increases in the province Ontario, we could not wait for our issues to be addressed and in an effort to have an immediate resolve, we involved the National Union and were having high level meetings with the Ford Motor Company of Canada to resolve these concerns. While discussions with the company were making progress today, it was announced that the Ford Motor Company would be suspending production of all its North American manufacturing, effective Friday March 20th, 2020 with operations to resume Monday March 30th. The shift pattern for this week will be communicated by the company at a later date.
While the announcement of a temporary lay-off is never good news, we are hopeful that during this down time the company will be able to address all our Health & Safety concerns and provide a safe environment for our return to production on Monday, March 30th.
Please follow our website for updates, as the leadership will continue to post important information as it becomes available.
In Solidarity,
Mark Sciberras
President – Unifor Local 707
Unifor Pandemic Policy Demands-Ferderal & Provincial Governments – Copy
