A B.C. woman who stole more than $14,000 in volunteer-raised funds that were supposed to be spent on school supplies and programs – including hot meals for vulnerable kids – won't spend any time in jail.
UAW members at the first Ford plant to go on strike overwhelmingly approve the new contract
Autoworkers at the first Ford factory to go on strike have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a tentative contract agreement reached with the company.
Members of Local 900 at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich., west of Detroit voted 82 per cent in favour of the four year-and-eight month deal, the United Auto Workers union said in a statement Thursday. The union said 3,097 workers voted in favour and 683 were against the contract.
Production workers voted 81 per cent to ratify the deal, while skilled trades workers voted 90 per cent in favour. Voting by Ford's 57,000 union members will continue through Nov. 17.
Workers went on strike at the assembly plant Sept. 15 after the union's contract with Ford expired. They remained on the picket lines until Oct. 25, when the union announced the tentative deal with Ford.
Local union leaders from across the country at Jeep maker Stellantis voted unanimously on Thursday to send the contract to members for a vote. General Motors local leaders will meet on Friday. Dates for member voting at GM or Stellantis were not yet clear.
Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University in Detroit who follows labour issues, said the vote at the Ford factory is a positive sign for the union.
"These workers are deeply in the know about the overall situation," he said. "I think that they responded to it with such high levels of approval it is perhaps reflective of how the broader workforce represented by the UAW feels about this contract."
Masters says union officials still have to make their cases to the membership, but "certainly this would appear to be a harbinger of good news."
The deals with all three companies are generally the same, although there are some differences. All give workers 25 per cent general pay raises with 11 per cent upon ratification. With cost of living pay, the raises will exceed 30 per cent by the time the contracts end on April 30, 2028. Workers hired after 2009 without defined benefit pensions will get 10 per cent annual company contributions to 401(k) plans, and they'll get US$5,000 ratification bonuses.
On Thursday night, Fain and vice-president Rich Boyer told workers in an online presentation that the union's strikes got every last dime possible out of Stellantis.
The top assembly plant wage at the company will go from US$31.77 per hour to US$42.24 by the end of the contract, Boyer said.
The union said it saved jobs at a plant in Belvidere, Ill., that Stellantis wanted to close. Plus, workers at a new joint-venture electric vehicle battery factory planned for Belvidere will be Stellantis employees and leased to the joint venture, Fain said.
Workers at the plant will be under the UAW national contract and will make over US$30 per hour by the end of the contract, with the chance to bargain for more later, Fain said.
Fain said terrified auto executives at non-union plants are raising wages, citing an increase this week at Toyota factories in an effort to keep the UAW from organizing their plants.
"Even though you're not yet members of our union," Fain said to Toyota workers, "that pay raise Toyota is giving you is the UAW bump. UAW, that stands for 'You Are Welcome."'
UAW workers began their strikes with targeted walkouts at all three automakers that escalated during a six-week period in an effort to pressure the companies into a deal. GM was the last company to settle early Sunday morning.
At its peak 46,000 union members had gone on strike at eight assembly plants and 38 parts warehouses across the nation. The union has about 146,000 members at all three of the Detroit auto companies.
Correction
This story has been corrected to show that 82 per cent of workers at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant voted in favour of the tentative contract agreement, not 81 per cent.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump expected to name Marco Rubio secretary of state, reports say
Donald Trump selected U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state, sources said on Monday, putting Rubio on track to be the first Latino to serve as America's top diplomat.
Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus was among approximately 120 people who gathered Sunday night for a candlelight vigil near the scene of a vicious attack against a 16-year-old in Cobalt.
23andMe cuts 40 per cent of its workforce, discontinues all therapy programs
Genetic testing firm 23andMe said on Monday it is reducing about 40 per cent, or 200 employees, from its workforce and discontinuing all its therapies.
'Your body, my choice': Attacks on women surge on social media following U.S. election
Sexist and abusive attacks on women, like 'your body, my choice' and 'get back to the kitchen,' have surged across social media since Trump’s reelection.
Dr. Ronald Weiss, who performed nearly 60,000 vasectomies on Ottawa men, establishing him as the "Wayne Gretzky" of the procedure, has died.
Megan Fox is expecting a baby with Machine Gun Kelly
Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly are expecting to grow their family. Fox announced her pregnancy in a social media post Monday.
A 36-year-old Montreal man who was out on bail after allegedly uttering death threats against his partner is now accused of murdering her on the South Shore.
A 15-year-old boy from Kitchener, Ont. is facing a long list of criminal charges as the Waterloo Regional Police Service wraps up a lengthy swatting investigation.
Local Spotlight
Should Toronto tear up its bike lanes to improve traffic flow? Critics say it's not so simple
A congestion crisis, a traffic nightmare, or unrelenting gridlock -- whatever you call it, most agree that Toronto has a congestion problem. To alleviate some of the gridlock, the Ontario government has announced it plans to remove bike lanes from three major roadways.
For the second year in a row, the ‘Gift-a-Family’ campaign is hoping to make the holidays happier for children and families in need throughout Barrie.
Some of the most prolific photographers behind CTV Skywatch Pics of the Day use the medium for fun, therapy, and connection.
A young family from Codroy Valley, N.L., is happy to be on land and resting with their newborn daughter, Miley, after an overwhelming, yet exciting experience at sea.
As Connor Nijsse prepared to remove some old drywall during his garage renovation, he feared the worst.
A group of women in Chester, N.S., has been busy on the weekends making quilts – not for themselves, but for those in need.
A Vancouver artist whose streetside singing led to a chance encounter with one of the world's biggest musicians is encouraging aspiring performers to try their hand at busking.
Ten-thousand hand-knit poppies were taken from the Sanctuary Arts Centre and displayed on the fence surrounding the Dartmouth Cenotaph on Monday.
A Vancouver man is saying goodbye to his nine-to-five and embarking on a road trip from the Canadian Arctic to Antarctica.