The Canadian Auto Workers union has reached a tentative four-year labor agreement with General Motors. The news comes just days after the CAW struck a similar deal with Ford, leaving Chrysler as the lone outlier.
Like Ford's deal, GM's contract with the CAW calls for a new two-tier wage system. The pact also does away with cost of living raises, although it does include $2,000 "lump sum cost-of-living improvement" payments that will be made during the final three years of the contract.
The CAW was unable to secure the production of a new vehicle, but GM has pledged to create or maintain 1,750 jobs while investing $675 million over the life of the contract at its Oshawa Assembly Plant and St. Catharines Powertrain Plant. GM also agreed to keep some Chevrolet Impala production in Canada. The Impala was scheduled to shift from GM's Oshawa plant to the company's Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant.
"We met the entire Ford pattern," CAW President Ken Lewenza told The Detroit News.
The CAW is expected to begin contract talks with Chrysler in the coming days.
