Ford Canada extends vaccine deadline for employees; Stellantis reports big uptake

Ford of Canada has extended the deadline for employees to comply with its COVID-19 mandate to March 28, while GM and Stellantis report huge uptake of the vaccine among its workers.

Ford’s policy was supposed to begin Jan. 3. GM and Stellantis deadlines have already passed.

The vast majority of Ford's hourly and salaried employees have already reported being vaccinated against the virus, company spokeswoman Kerri Stoakley said in an email to Automotive News Canada.

“We have been very encouraged by the support of our employees to comply with our protocols, including the approximately 90 per cent of our hourly and salaried workforce who are fully vaccinated,” she wrote.

The company didn’t say why the deadline was moved but Unifor, which represents hourly workers at Ford facilities in Canada, has been fighting for changes to the policy since it was first announced in October 2021.

The union says the automaker notified it of the deadline change and said employees can submit a request for accommodation for religious or medical reasons should they not want to get inoculated. 

Ford said it would continue to push its employees to get a shot.

“To encourage vaccination, unvaccinated employees who do not have a company-approved accommodation will be provided with educational resources including information about how COVID-19 vaccines work, vaccine safety related to the development of the COVID-19 vaccines, benefits of vaccination against COVID-19, risks of not being vaccinated against COVID-19, and possible side effects of COVID-19 vaccination,” Stoakley said.

Ford employs about 3,400 people at its Oakville Assembly Plant outside Toronto.

STELLANTIS UPTAKE

Meanwhile, the “vast majority” of employees at Stellantis facilities in Canada have complied with  the automaker’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate, the company said.

“[B]ut we are not disclosing the numbers," LouAnn Gosselin, head of communications for Stellantis in Canada, said in an email to Automotive News Canada.

Stellantis now requires all employees, contractors and visitors at their Canadian facilities be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — and they must show proof.

The automaker had originally planned to bar unvaccinated staff from Canadian sites Dec. 17 after announcing the vaccine requirement in mid-October. But Stellantis pushed back the implementation timeline for its mandatory vaccination policy at its Canadian facilities until Dec. 31, giving workers two extra weeks to comply and the company adequate time to work through exception requests.

“We are not commenting on details pertaining to the policy or discipline,” Gosselin said Tuesday.

Gosselin provided no further details regarding consequences for those not in compliance of the new rule. The company previously said consequences will extend to termination but that on a case-by-case basis it would also accommodate seeking an exemption.

Meanwhile, the automaker’s minivan plant will remain idled until Jan. 21 "to align production with global sales,” Gosselin said.

Its Brampton Assembly Plant, where the automaker builds the Dodge Challenger and Charger and the Chrysler 300 will be idle until Jan. 26.

GM began requiring proof of vaccination on Dec. 12. 

Stellantis employs about 6,400 people at the two plants, but a shift is scheduled to be cut in Windsor this spring.

GM WORKERS ON LEAVE

Unvaccinated workers at General Motors’ CAMI Assembly Plant were forced onto unpaid leaves of absence following the vaccination deadline, according to the union that represents hourly workers at the Ingersoll, Ont., plant. 

Mike Van Boekel, Unifor chairperson, confirmed at the time of the deadline that an undisclosed number of Local 88 members have been place leave, but would not comment further. He estimated roughly 100 unvaccinated workers had not secured medical or religious exemption to the mandatory vaccination policy.

GM Canada would not comment on the details of its policy for CAMI or its wider network of Canadian facilities, but said the “overwhelming majority” of the company’s workers have met the requirements.

All told, GM employs about 3,800 people at two plants in Ontario.