Tentative Ford deal promises new product for Essex Engine Plant

A long-awaited new engine programis set for Ford Motor Co.'s Essex Engine Plant, Unifor announced early Tuesday as it reached a tentative agreement with the automaker.

Just before 12:30 a.m. E.T. the union's bargaining committee announced it is unanimously recommending the deal, which includes $700 million, largely for Windsor.

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"This new engine will be the highest technology, will be the most fuel efficient, will have incredible torque, horsepower and will be put into Ford's No. 1 selling vehicles throughout the North American chain," said Jerry Dias, Unifor's national president.

That program is heralded as being at"the top of the food chain."

'I'm feeling pretty good'

Workers filed into work as usual at the Essex Engine Plant Tuesday, with some expressing relief that a deal had been reached.

Ford worker Norman Russette on tentative Unifor, Ford deal.

8 years ago

Duration 1:13

Ford worker Norman Russette speaks with CBC News the morning after a tentative deal was reached between Unifor and the automaker.

"I'm feeling pretty good. I'm feeling pretty optimistic," said Norman Russette, who's been building engines at the plant for 33 years.

"A $700-million investment is nothing to sneeze at, we do need the work here in Windsor. A lot of us were in the plant the last couple of weeks [feeling] kind of hot and cold," he said. "What it seems to me, and to most of the majority, is this is a good contract to ratify."

Local Unifor leadership expressed similar optimism about the tentative deal.

"What this is going to mean is the future," Chris Taylor, the president of Unifor Local 200 told Windsor Morning host Tony Doucette. "We've been quite clear for some time ... that our Windsor operations are in jeopardy."

Retired business professor Alfie Morgan predicts Ford employees are poised to givethe local economy a shot in the arm because auto workers have been holding back on spending until the new deals were in place.

"First, they are going tospend it on durable goods, especially what we call white goods like fridges, stoves, washing machines, etc.," Morgan said."People have been afraid there might have been a strike and they've been withholding expenses."

Workers will also be buying furniture and possibly cars once the deal is ratified, Morgan predicts.

No details on engine plan yet

Taylor said he knows what the new engine program will be, but he will be tellingUniformembers the news first. But he did say the new enginecould mean more jobs at theEssexEngine Plant.

In Windsor, EssexEnginebuilds 5.0-litre V-8 engines for Ford Mustang and the F-150. Nearby Windsor Assembly Plant builds the 6.8-litre V-10 in the Ford F-Series and E-Series, and Ford also operates a casting plant that provides parts to those facilities on Drouillard Road.

With the future of those products uncertain, Unifor officials said finding a replacement for those products was the top demand entering negotiations. Taylor said Tuesday that demand had been met.

"The impact of potentially closing out the engine at Windsor Engine will be met and surpassed by the new program," he said "We convinced Ford we earned the opportunity for a new program. It will mean our plants in Windsor have a great future."

Windsor Assembly will continue producing 6.8-litre engines,Taylor said, with the expectation that will occur through the life of the agreement before that program is phased out.

The voting process on the new deal is expected to begin on the weekend.