The majority of the members of the Canadian Auto Workers union voted in favor of a three-year labor agreement with Ford Canada that involves a wage freeze and new, lower pay scales for new workers. The contract was approved by 78 percent of CAW workers, with the decision coming five months before the current contract expires.
CAW President Buzz Hargrove said the union will offer the same deal to General Motors and Chrysler, with talks scheduled for Monday and Tuesday with each, respectively. “There is no reason why they wouldn’t accept it,” he said in an Automotive News report.
The new contract will include higher health costs and a one week shorter paid vacation period, with cost-of-living raises suspended for five quarters. To compensate, workers will receive one-time bonuses of $2,200 Canadian and $3,500 in January. The deal will save Ford Canada hundreds of millions of dollars, union officials say. As reported earlier, the automaker’s St. Thomas, ON plant will also remain open a year longer, until 2011.
With North American car sales plummeting recently, especially in traditionally highly profitable segments like truck and SUV sales due to high gas prices, as well as competition from overseas automakers, and a U.S. credit crunch, of which the union members are aware of helped contribute to the early deal.
05/05, 10:05 AM
posted by:
jdasch1
Can Ford even afford to build vehicles in Canada anymore??
05/05, 10:20 AM
posted by:
DeansterTJ
Goes to show who’s in control now. Agreeing to a deal where there is a lower starting salary for noobs, wage-freeze, and less vacation in exchange for a $3000 payout means they’re getting desperate.
I see all those plants involved closing and moving to MExico. There are going to be a ****load of unemployed CAW conveyor monkeys in 2011. I just hope they learn a new skill in the interim, like bagging groceries or shovelling driveways in the winter.
05/05, 11:01 AM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Somebody must have given Buzz some new reading glasses; now even he can see the writing on the wall. If I were GM and Chrysler I’d push the CAW even harder.
05/05, 11:07 AM
posted by:
planet_drive
is this johnny cannuck guy unemployed or retired or has no life? this guy posts everyday at all hours of the day. If I spent half as much time in front of the computer as this guy I would be wearing glasses as thick as coke bottles and have a belly instead of a trimmed tummy! Get your ass off the seat and go see the world instead of sitting all day at the computer writing comments about the auto industry lol
05/05, 11:19 AM
posted by:
DeansterTJ
**** you planet_drive, no one solicited your stupid monkey-assed opinion. I’m on this site all day too, between patients and at lunch. I’ll post all day you fag, no one answers to your stupid ass.
05/05, 11:48 AM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Go f*ck yourself penis_diver. What I do with my time is my business. If you don’t like what I post then don’t f*cking read it.
05/05, 11:50 AM
posted by:
planet_drive
wow you deal with patients and you got an immature attitude like that? Are you a doctor or a medical student that wasn’t able to keep up with the rest of the class so you became a dentist? I feel sorry for your patients lol anyways have a good spring and summer all you lonely losers out there, have fun talking about cars, my 440hp WRX wagon is waiting for me at the Port of Rotterdam and will be touring Europe and do a few laps at the Nurburgring, a place you pussies are only able to talk about.
05/05, 12:12 PM
posted by:
xyunya
There is no such things as 440 HP WRX. Subaru advertised numbers is 305 hp and torque in the same neighborhood. Which is OK for a 4 cylinder with limited life expectancy.
05/05, 12:28 PM
posted by:
moto-racer13
Obviously its modified. subarus are great for mods and the drive train is tough as nails, any car with a factory turbo is easy to modify and get big power from it.
05/05, 1:53 PM
posted by:
xyunya
moto-racer13, if you don’t plan to use car in everyday use – maybe. But in horsepower war Subaru would increase horsepower if it would be wise. With boosting power you cutting of reliability of the motor. Race teams use motor maybe twice (mostly only once), but those teams have appropriate budgets for it. I don’t believe in 440 HP original 300 HP motor. How one measures it? Who verifies measurements? Every moron swears on having 12″ shaft, but shy to star in porn.
05/05, 5:50 PM
posted by:
DeansterTJ
Penis-diver professes his pathological lying nature. Maybe we should set you up with 1115!
And no, I didn’t become a dentist, although that’s pretty funny that you think that dentists are all frustrated failed doctors. I’ll be sure to show it to my GF, who is a dentist. She’ll find it funny