Union: Chrysler, GM to match Ford wages, benefits.

This is from canada.com.
This bodes well in terms of avoiding strikes. However, the terms of the Ford agreement are hardly generous for workers involving as they do wage freezes. The Ford agreement was negotiated ahead of time successfully because Hargrove gave way on many issues. The main positive aspect was the avoidance of the two tier wage system that sells out incoming labor.


Thursday » May 15 » 2008

Chrysler, GM to match Ford wages, benefits: union

Chris Vander Doelen
Canwest News Service
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Both Chrysler Canada and General Motors of Canada have agreed to match the wages and benefits for autoworkers set out in the 2008 contract already agreed to by Ford of Canada.
However, talks between Chrysler, GM, and the Canadian Auto Workers union were expected to continue today, with the potential for a breakdown in talks remaining.
Buyout packages for the 1,200 CAW workers at GM's Windsor Transmission plant - a potential strike issue - were settled late Wednesday.
But contract negotiations with the GM and Chrysler were expected to continue into this afternoon.
CAW president Buzz Hargrove said contract talks would continue with both GM and Chrysler despite the parties missing a shared 6 p.m. deadline Wednesday.
"We're close together. . . . We're close enough to finishing this thing in the next few hours," Hargrove said of bargaining during a late evening news conference. "But we could still see it fall apart."
Although the real strike deadline is still months away, when the current deal expires on Sept. 16, the CAW and the Detroit-based automakers agreed to start talks months in advance this year in order to reach for an early agreement.
The issue of severance pay, pensions, and buyouts for members of CAW Local 1973 at Windsor Transmission, whose permanent closure was announced Monday, has been settled, Hargrove said.
That side deal buries what the union had said was potentially the most difficult issue standing between the two sides and a strike-free agreement for a 2008 contract.
"We've closed out in Windsor," Hargrove said of the Windsor Transmission deal.
He refused to reveal any details of the closure agreement other than to say, "It protects and defends the interests of every person working in that facility."
The joint GM and Chrysler bargaining teams behind Hargrove gave him an ovation during the Toronto news conference.
The remaining issues separating the two sides were "not insurmountable," Hargrove said. But the terms of how GM and Chrysler will meet the Ford pattern remained a matter of debate.
"Both companies have said they are willing to meet the pattern but their view of how they meet the pattern differs from ours. But we're still optimistic we can do this thing in the next few hours."
The CAW's talks with the Detroit-based Big Three automakers are unfolding far outside traditional timelines this year after the union and the Ford Motor Company of Canada Ltd. shocked the industry and its observers by agreeing to a new master contract four months earlier than expected.
Ford workers have already ratified the deal. The master "pattern" agreement, as the union calls the first trend-setting deal, freezes base wages for three years and cancels cost-of-living increases for 15 months.
Health benefits are also reduced slightly, and one week of vacation time is given up.
© Canwest News Service 2008

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