No significant progress in auto talks with GM

TORONTO: General Motors Co and the Canadian union Unifor have not yet made any significant progress in their talks to hammer out a new contract, the labour group’s president Jerry Dias said as the sides entered the final stretch of negotiations.

GM and the Unifor have been divided over union demands that the US carmaker commit to new vehicle models at its Oshawa, Ontario, plant.

A four-year contract covering some 20,000 Canadian autoworkers at Fiat Chrysler, Ford and GM expires on today.

The union chose GM as Unifor’s strike target for the talks, with any deal setting the pattern for the next round of talks with manufacturers Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Ford Motor Co.

GM’s plant in Oshawa, just east of Toronto, is on the verge of shutting one of its two assembly lines, with several vehicles either already produced elsewhere or expected to move in 2017.

GM said only that it remains focused on working with Unifor to reach a “mutually beneficial and competitive new agreement,” but did not reiterate its previous stance that it will make future product decisions for Oshawa only after a labor agreement.

A strike at Oshawa, which assembles the Chevrolet Impala, Buick Regal and Cadillac XTS sedans as well as some other overflow work, would not cause much hardship for GM.

But if workers at its Ingersoll, Ontario, CAMI plant, who have the same union but a different contract, support the strike and refuse to install engines and transmissions diverted from US or Mexican plants, it would be more damaging for GM.

The CAMI plant assembles GM’s strong-selling Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain.

Unifor, which represents more than 20,000 autoworkers, has said its top priority is securing production of new vehicle models. Pensions and wages are also on the table. — Reuters