CAW, Chrysler accept tentative contract

Unionized workers at Chrysler’s Ontario plants voted to accept a new contract on Sunday, marking the Canadian Auto Workers’ successful negotiation of fresh agreements with the three big U.S. automakers.

The Chrysler workers voted 90 per cent in favour of the tentative deal which was reached last week.

It was not immediately clear how many of the 8,000 workers at Chrysler’s plants in Toronto, Brampton and Windsor cast ballots in the ratification votes held this weekend.

The deal was based on agreements already accepted by CAW members at Ford and General Motors by margins of 82 per cent and 73 per cent, respectively.

The four-year contract includes lump sum payments as well as job security provisions.

It also pays new employees less and extends the time it takes them to get to the top of the pay scale.

Chrysler was the last of the Detroit Big Three automakers to hammer out a contract.

CAW president Ken Lewenza said the ratification of all three new agreements will now allow the union to focus on winning a national auto policy for Canada.

“One of our objectives coming into these talks was to position our industry for future growth and success, and we did as much as we possibly could on that front,” Lewenza said in a statement released Sunday evening.

“But without a comprehensive sector development strategy, the future of auto manufacturing in Canada remains uncertain, at best.”