Canada: 8,900 Ford workers ratify new contract without 2-tier, GM and Chrysler next

With healthcare not on the negotiating table, Ford and the CAW have come to terms with 78% of the membership in agreement. The biggest part. The CAW has not thrown their future member under the bus.

From CAW - The Canadian Auto Workers Union (5/5/08) :

The more than 8,900 CAW members working at Ford in Oakville, Windsor, St. Thomas and Bramalea voted 78 per cent in favour of the new collective agreement on Saturday and Sunday.

“This agreement is a victory for our members,” said CAW President Buzz Hargrove. “It takes care of current workers and retirees while recognizing the challenges facing the industry. And it doesn’t do this on the backs of future workers either, with any sort of two-tier structure.”

This round of Big Three bargaining will be the last for both Hargrove and CAW National Secretary-Treasurer Jim O’Neil, ending a thirty year era.

“Our members see first hand how unfair trade, a high Canadian dollar and soaring oil prices are all impacting their job security and understand better than anyone that these issues must be dealt with,” said Mike Vince, chair of the CAW-Ford Master Bargaining Committee and president of CAW Local 200.

“We’ve done our job by negotiating a responsible and pragmatic agreement and we will continue to keep the heat on the federal government to address the problems that are eroding the auto industry today,” said Hargrove.

Now they are going after GM to get more work and seeking early negotiations with Chrysler

• CAW wants more work at GM plants, or no deal - The Star (5/6/08)
  

Hargrove said parent General Motors Corp. made product commitments to the United Auto Workers in the United States last fall, and he expects the same assurances here.

The union, which represents about 13,000 GM workers, is looking for long-term transmission work at the Windsor operation, extra parts output at plants in St. Catharines and additional models at a new flexible manufacturing complex in Oshawa.

• CAW, Chrysler consider early talks - the Star (5/7/08)
  

The current contracts with GM and Chrysler run out in September and affect around 22,000 workers.

Hargrove said the CAW and Chrysler "had a very cordial meeting," to share the information on the pattern agreement at Ford and the company "agreed that they would get back to us in a couple of days."

The CAW typically reaches an agreement with one of the Big Three automakers and then uses that deal as a framework for deals with the other two automakers where it has collective agreements.