Union president Chris Taylor won't seek re-election
Chris Taylor led Unifor Local 200 for six years
After six years as the head of Unifor Local 200, president Chris Taylor has announced he won't seek re-election.
The union leader, who represents Windsor's Ford workers, will be moving to a national position with Unifor as a service representative for the region.
- Unifor demands Ford Motor Co. invest in Windsor, Ont.
- Windsor gets none of Ford's latest $700M investment
"It's time to move on," he said. "Time for a new face in the local."
Taylor called the 2016 bargaining talks one of the highlights of his tenure, despite it being the toughest battle he's had to fight. He added he's happy Ford Windsor's future was secured before Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.
"I don't think anybody imagined the rhetoric or position he would take," said Taylor. "But I'm anticipating that, no matter what curveballs Trump throws, our site is going to be very secure for the long term."
The most difficult loss to swallow came in 2014 when Windsor was passed over as the builder of a new Ford small engine in favour of Mexico, but Taylor hinted the city could see a significant investment from the company soon.
"It's very secretive right now," he said, providing few details, other than the news that Windsor will be the sole supplier of an engine for Ford.
"The engine program is ours, it's coming to our site and I would expect it would be in place prior to us bargaining in 2020."