Further cementing his reputation as a labor negotiator, Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has stated that vehicle assembly costs in Canada need to be lowered to match their counterparts in the United States.
The Canadian Auto Workers union, which is essentially the country’s counterpart to the United Auto Workers in the U.S., assembles many of Chrysler’s larger vehicles.
“You cannot have all things, you cannot have a strong currency, you cannot have an uncompetitive wage rate and then expect Chrysler or all the other carmakers in this country to keep on making cars in this country and be disadvantaged,” Marchionne said in a speech at the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants in Toronto.
Chrysler and the CAW will begin labor negotiations next year. Marchionne used his speech in Toronto to set the stage, just as he has done for similar negotiations in the United States with Chrysler and Italy with Fiat.
Marchionne also railed against the two-tier wage system adopted by both the CAW and the UAW.
“I don’t like the notion of entitlement either,†he said. “If we’re all in the same boat, then if I’m doing well I will pay you much more than you would have got as a tier one. But if we’re in the sewers, don’t expect your role preserved when everyone else is drowning.â€
The executive offered up incentives or profit sharing, but he said that overall production costs in Canada need to be on par with those in the United States.
The automaker builds its rear-drive sedans and coupes in Brampton, Ontario, and its minivans emerge from a plant in Windsor, Ontario. Both products are among Chrysler’s most profitable, but Marchionne said that further concessions from workers will be necessary to continue investing in Canada.
The automaker also builds components at several facilities across Canada, where its total hourly worker count is around 9,000 people.
The president of the CAW’s Local 444 at the Windsor plant called Marchionne’s statements a “threat.”
“I’m a little pissed off,†Laporte told the Windsor Star. “I’m just surprised that he goes to the press and says those kinds of things.
“I can understand those kinds of conversations privately between the union and him in a room. I can go out and say a lot of nasty things too, but I choose not to because I prefer to be professional and have those kinds of conversations one-on-one with him.â€
The two sides will begin contract negotiations next summer when all three Michigan automakers begin to rework their contracts with the CAW.
References
1.’Marchionne: CAW must…’ view
