The Canadian Autoworkers Union and Chrysler Canada Inc. remain far apart on a deal on wage concessions, and aren't likely to hold high-level talks until after Sunday morning, the head of the union said Saturday.

The wrangling between the two sides comes as a deadline approaches for the automaker to submit a restructuring proposal to the federal and Ontario governments.

CAW and Chrysler have until March 31 to reach a deal on labour costs as a prerequisite to the ailing automaker receiving about $2 billion in public bailout cash.

CAW president Ken Lewenza and his negotiating team met with workers Saturday morning in Toronto and Brampton, Ont. to update them on the status of the negotiations.

The CAW will hold another such meeting in Windsor, Ont., on Sunday morning.

Lewenza said most of the discussions held at a hotel in Toronto on Saturday were with smaller groups at the higher levels of both the union and automaker.

But he said he doesn't expect face-to-face negotiations involving members of the master bargaining committee Saturday or early Sunday.

Disagreement over pattern bargaining

Lewenza said Saturday that after talking to union members about the "difficulties" the CAW is having in negotiations with Chrysler, it was "almost unanimous that the pattern agreement struck at General Motors must be the objective of the union."

The CAW has said it wishes to stick to pattern bargaining, meaning it will ask Chrysler to accept a deal similar to the one the union reached with General Motors Corp. earlier this month that would cut labour costs by approximately $7 an hour.

Commonly, any deal the auto workers cut with the first firm becomes the template for contracts with the other two major domestic producers.

But Chrysler has said pattern bargaining will not work in this instance, given the current economic environment. Chrysler LLC president Tom LaSorda has called the GM pact "unacceptable" and has hinted the company may stop production in Canada altogether.

Chrysler is reportedly seeking wage concessions of about $19 an hour.

With files from the Canadian Press