AUTOWORKERS, GM REACH DEAL
Tentative agreement between CAW and automaker leaves Chrysler as last holdout,
The Canadian Auto Workers union has reached a tentative agreement with General Motors that it says preserves all the features of the pattern laid down in the agreement reached with Ford on Monday.
The deal allows GM to both cut costs and preserve jobs, CAW national president Ken Lewenza told a news conference late Thursday.
“By the end of the collective agreement, the seniority workforce will be fully employed,” Lewenza said.
The contract maintains a total of 1,750 jobs with a capital expenditure of $675 million at GM plants in Oshawa and Brampton. “This set of talks with our labour partner have been candid and constructive, reflecting the challenges facing Canadian manufacturers,” said David Wenner, GM Canada’s general director for labour relations, late Thursday. The deal offsets the impact of the previously announced closing of GM’s consolidated line in Oshawa, which employs 2,000 people. It also avoids a permanent twotier wage system — whereby new hires come in at a reduced pay scale — which had been a major sticking point earlier in the day, Lewenza said. Among the commitments in the agreement, GM will create a third shift at its flex plant in Oshawa, starting next year. That move will create 900 jobs. Production at the consolidated plant will be extended until June 2014, preserving 750 jobs. Also, the category of temporary worker, a lower-paid job grouping, has been restricted. The consolidated plant could get a second shift in June 2014, Lewenza said, but, if not, the laid-off workers will get full benefits. The 8,000 CAW workers at GM will get the same deal as Ford. That means new hires come in at a lower rate, $20 an hour instead of $24, and take longer to reach the top rate — 10 years instead of six years. The top rate is $34. They also receive a hybrid pension plan that combines a defined-benefit plan with a defined-contribution plan. Existing employees will receive annual bonuses instead of a pay raise. The four-year deal includes a $3,000 signing bonus and annual bonuses of $2,000 in each of the following three years.
The union has yet to reach a deal with Chrysler, the country’s second largest auto manufacturer.
Negotiations with Chrysler will resume in earnest Friday, Lewenza said.
Thursday’s settlement with GM came just hours after Lewenza threatened to put the company on 24 hours’ strike notice.
On Monday, the union had extended a midnight strike deadline to give GM and Chrysler a chance to review the Ford deal reached that afternoon.
The Ford deal goes to a vote by its workers on the weekend.
The auto industry accounts for a quarter of all manufacturing output in Ontario.
Economists had warned that a strike would set back the province’s already fragile economy.