CAR workers in Canada were set to begin strike action against Ford from Monday night.

The action by members of Unifor, who represent car workers in Canada, follows the strike over a new contract by their counterparts in the United States which began last Thursday.

Unifor president Lana Payne told CNN on Saturday that the union has already rejected two offers from Ford.

She said: “We’re not close at all. There’s a lot of work to get done to get an agreement by midnight on Monday.”

Neither side has gone public with the details of the negotiation, but the union has previously said it is looking for a substantial pay increase to keep pace with the cost of living, pensions improvements and guarantees over job security as the industry makes the switch to electric vehicles.

Ford has one assembly plant in the Toronto suburb of Oakville, Ontario, which has around 3,400 Unifor members.

The plant produces the Ford Edge as well as the Lincoln Nautilus SUV.

Ford also has two engine plants in Windsor, Ontario, where 1,700 Unifor members work to make engines for Mustangs and the F-150 pick-up truck.

This is the first time since 2009 — when each of the so-called Big Three had to be rescued from the brink of bankruptcy — that contracts have simultaneously expired in the US and Canada.

Contracts have usually expired in different years, but Unifor negotiated its last contract to come into the same time frame as the UAW. 

Unlike the Union of Auto Workers in the US, Unifor has chosen to target Ford even though the other two major car manufacturers — General Motors and Stellantis — are all signatories to the contract that expires on Monday.

The union believes that the other two giant car manufacturers can be brought into line with any agreement finally achieved with Ford.

Ms Payne said her members are demanding significant improvements in both wages and pensions to deal with higher prices they’ve seen in Canada. 

She said her members were entitled to a share of the record profits made by the Big Three and were feeling the pain of the soaring cost of living in Canada. 

She said: “We know our members’ expectations are high,” but the Big Three needed to understand that they were “grappling with higher prices. The world is not the same today as it was five years ago.”