CNN
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Members of Canada’s autoworkers union, Unifor, ratified a tentative three-year agreement with Ford on Sunday after the union had reached an 11th-hour agreement last week to avert a possible strike.

The deal, which Unifor called “exceptional,” was unanimously endorsed by leadership from the local unions on Friday, the union said in a news release. But despite that endorsement, only 54% of the rank-and-file members voted to ratify the deal.

The union leadership said the contract was the best deal they could get for members.

“This was an extraordinary round of collective bargaining, taking place in an extraordinary time,” the union’s leadership wrote in a joint message to members included in the bargaining report. “Autoworkers, like all workers, are gripped by an affordability crisis and rising costs. High interest rates are fueling economic uncertainty for families. We are still reeling from a devastating pandemic and damaging supply shortages that have affected our jobs. Amid these challenges comes a once-in-a-century auto sector transformation that, if done right, will grow Canada’s industrial footprint.”

“Our Unifor-represented autoworkers are the heart of Ford of Canada,” Bev Goodman, CEO of Ford of Canada, said in a statement. “This contract invests in our talented and dedicated employees.”

The terms of the deal could have an impact on negotiations to end the strike by the United Auto Workers union against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. At the very least, it raises hope that a deal could be near with Ford.

Unifor won some key demands that Ford and the other automakers have yet to agree to in talks with the UAW, including a return of a pension plan — rather than just 401(k)-style retirement accounts — for Unifor members hired at Ford in recent years.

The UAW strike, which originated with 12,700 members on September 15, has sought a resumption of traditional pension plans for employees hired since 2007.

While UAW President Shawn Fain said Friday his union has made progress in negotiations with Ford, he did not mention any progress on the pension issue.

Still, because Ford is making headway in its negotiations on other issues, the UAW continued to limit its strike at Ford to one assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan, while it expanded the strike at GM and Stellantis to those companies’ parts and distribution centers.

“We do want to recognize that Ford is serious about reaching a deal,” Fain said Friday.

The UAW said it did not have a comment on the terms of the deal this weekend between Unifor and Ford.

In addition to the improvements on pensions, the Unifor agreement addresses Unifor’s core priorities, including a wage increase of 10% in the first year of the agreement, effective September 25, followed by a 2% and 3% increase over the next two years of the contract.

The agreement also eliminates the health care deductible for all current and former employees.

The deal covers nearly 5,700 union members, including 5,300 workers at three plants, and almost 400 workers spread across three distribution centers and two offices. If they had gone on strike it could have affected production for some of Ford’s key models built at US plants, since two engine plants in Canada produce the V-8 engines used in Ford F-150 pickups and Mustangs.

The deal will also be used as a blueprint in Unifor’s pattern bargaining and could pave the way for new contracts with Stellantis and GM. Unifor said it will announce soon whether it will next negotiate with GM or Stellantis.

This report has been updated with additional information