CAW reaches tentative contracts with GM, Chrysler
Last Updated: Thursday, May 15, 2008 | 10:27 AM ET
CBC News
CAW president Buzz Hargrove says GM has committed to building new vehicles at its car and truck plants in Oshawa and made a commitment to jobs at its St. Catharines, Ont., engine plant.
(CBC)The Canadian Auto Workers union confirmed Thursday it has reached tentative contract deals with General Motors and Chrysler.
The GM deal includes a three-year wage freeze, but workers will get some cost-of-living increases in the second and third years of the contract.
The CAW represents roughly 13,000 GM workers at Ontario plants in Oshawa, Windsor, St. Catharines and Woodstock. Union members are due to vote on the tentative agreement on Friday.
CAW president Buzz Hargrove said the union and the company have also agreed to retirement incentives and buyouts to help workers affected by GM's plan to shut down its transmission plant in Windsor within two years. The plant's closure, affecting about 1,400 jobs, was announced on Monday.
The union said GM has agreed to postpone the layoff of the 900-worker second shift at the Oshawa truck plant until September 2009. Until then, workers on the two shifts will rotate through a two-weeks-on, two-weeks-off basis. The layoff had been set to take effect this September.
Hargrove said GM has also committed to building new vehicles at its car and truck plants in Oshawa, and made a commitment to jobs at its St. Catharines engine plant.
Production of the Oshawa-built Impala will now go until 2012, providing sales hold up. The car was due to be phased out in 2010.
"[The agreement] protects as many jobs as we could in Oshawa and St. Catharines," Hargrove told reporters.
"If you look at the state of the industry, we come out of here [with a proposal] that protects our past gains and has some improvements in it, and continues the investment in our facilities. The company's feeling pretty good about where they're at and our members are feeling great," he said.
The CAW said an agreement in principle has also been reached with Chrysler, subject to finalizing some of the contract language. Chrysler said it employs about 9,600 CAW members, primarily at its Ontario plants in Brampton, Etobicoke and Windsor.
Hargrove said Chrysler's Etobicoke castings plant will remain open until mid-2011. He said the company has agreed to help find a buyer for the facility, which employs about 350 people.
The union began meeting with GM this week and Chrysler last week in the hopes of matching an earlier deal made with Ford.
Current contracts with the automakers do not run out until September.
Assuming both deals are ratified, it will provide a measure of stability for the Big Three at a time of slumping sales, dropping market share and major restructurings that have already led to many factory closings and tens of thousands of layoffs.
