Canadian Auto Workers Reach Pact

CAW president Buzz Hargrove said the deal avoided many of the concessions that the unit of the Detroit-based automaker was seeking, including over the crucial issue of outsourcing work to non-union shops.

The agreement with Chrysler, due to be ratified by workers on Sunday, will also set the pattern of bargaining ahead with the Canadian subsidiaries of Ford Motor Co and General Motors Corp.

The Canadian agreement comes on the heals of a US deal on Monday between the United Auto Workers and Ford Motor Co.

Chrysler Canada said the company was relieved the agreement was reached without a strike. The deal was announced just 1-1/2 hours before the union contract was due to expire at midnight.

 

The fact is now we can concentrate on the thing we do best and that is building cars and trucks which people enjoy buying, said Chrysler Canada spokesman Othmar Stein.

The union said the agreement included a 2-per-cent wage increase in each year of a three-year settlement, improved the health care plan, and avoided giving in to Chrysler's demands for user fees, co-payments and caps on the health and benefit plans.

Although the union said the improvement in health care benefits did not come at the expense of wage increases, Chrysler's Stein suggested some horse-trading had occurred.