Canadian union says negotiations with Ford are continuing

(Reuters) – Canada’s Unifor union said late on Monday that contract negotiations with Ford Motor (NYSE:) were continuing and advised members to remain on shift unless they received explicit instructions from the union indicating otherwise.

Unifor’s contract with Ford covering 5,600 workers at three plants expired at 11:59 EDT on Monday (0359 GMT on Tuesday), but there was no immediate update from the union on whether it would call for a strike.

Unifor postponed a planned midnight webcast after posting the update on negotiations on social media platform X.

Hours earlier, Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a video posted on the union’s website that Ford needed to do more to meet members’ expectations and demands.

“If there is a strike, this will be a total strike,” she said. “Every single one of Unifor’s 5,600 members at Ford in Canada will be on picket lines.”

The last-minute negotiations were being held less than a week after the United Auto Workers union in the U.S. launched a strike against Ford, General Motors (NYSE:) and Stellantis (NYSE:), targeting one assembly plant at each company.

UAW said it plans to announce on Friday more plants to strike if no serious progress was made in talks with the Detroit Three automakers.