STORY: General Motors and Canadian union Unifor reached a tentative deal on Tuesday only just hours after thousands of workers walked off the job at three GM facilities, threatening to disrupt the largest U.S. automaker's profitable full-size truck production. The union represents about 18,000 Canadian auto workers. It said the deal includes wage hikes of up to 25% and resembles the agreement Unifor reached with another Big Three automaker, Ford, last month. GM said the deal quote “recognizes the many contributions of our represented team members with significant increases in wages, benefits and job security.” Unifor National President Lana Payne said quote “When faced with the shutdown of these key facilities General Motors had no choice but to get serious at the table and agree to the pattern." Speaking of ongoing negotiations with Chrysler parent company Stellantis, with which Unifor has not yet reached a deal, Payne said she expected the automaker to quote "come here kicking and screaming the way that General Motors did." Stellantis declined to comment.Workers must still vote to approve the GM agreement– which Payne said will cut the time needed to reach the top pay tier from eight to four years, an important step considering the number of younger Canadian workers at the company.The walkout was set to intensify the headache faced by the automaker in the U.S. Since United Auto Workers workers went on strike in mid-September, GM has racked up millions of dollars in daily losses, laid off thousands of U.S. workers and, according to an estimate by Deutsche Bank, lost over 34,000 vehicles of production.