The union will unveil an "emergency no-concessions statement and resolution" in London, Ont., today in the midst of what CAW president Buzz Hargrove describes as the greatest crisis the auto industry has faced since Henry Ford and others were tinkering near Detroit at the turn of the last century.

"I want to send as strong a message as I can that we're not going to accept the logic that leads to the potential setback of 20 years of bargaining on behalf of our members and their families," Mr. Hargrove said yesterday.

An action plan to deal with what the CAW sees as a looming threat includes "using every non-violent option available to us (up to and including demonstrations, occupations, plant shutdowns and refusing to handle 'hot' auto parts.)"

Mr. Hargrove acknowledged that the union's position amounts to a declaration of war on any company seeking to duplicate Delphi.

The union will outline its position amid growing turmoil in the U.S. auto parts sector after the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing of Delphi, the largest North American auto parts maker and the largest supplier of parts to General Motors Corp.

Delphi's troubles are mirrored at hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of parts makers on the continent. Those difficulties include cuts in vehicle production at GM as the world's largest auto maker deals with eroding market share, soaring prices for steel and other commodities and unrelenting demands by auto makers for price cuts.

Canadian parts makers -- even the most successful ones such as Magna International Inc. and Linamar Corp. -- are facing the same issues, but no large players here have taken the drastic actions Delphi and others have in seeking to restructure their operations under court protection.

"There's a border that you have to cross, but it won't stop this kind of crisis for workers spilling over to Canada," said Mr. Hargrove, who recently concluded negotiations with the Detroit-based auto makers.

Those agreements appear to have saved -- at least temporarily -- several Canadian factories that were on the endangered list and limited most of the job cuts during the next three years to attrition.

The union fears, however, that the Delphi move will lead to more troubles at GM and Ford Motor Co., both of which are preparing major job cuts and plant closing announcements.

"The demand for back-breaking concessions at Delphi is just the beginning," the union says in its resolution, which will be presented today to local presidents who represent workers at parts makers in Canada.

"If Delphi attains those concessions (either through bargaining or court order) it will lead to an incredible wave of attacks on unionized auto parts plants on both sides of the border -- and that conflict will inevitably spill over into Big Three facilities as well."

A seven-point plan outlines actions the CAW is prepared to take.

"Parts makers who attempt to solve their problems by forcibly extracting concessions from their workers will find their ability to effectively do business in Canada severely constrained," the plan says.

"In cases when an automotive supplier transfers production from CAW members who are resisting concessions to non-union or foreign plants, CAW members at auto assembly plants will refuse to handle those re-sourced components," it adds.

Auto parts is one of the largest industries in Canadian manufacturing, with shipments of about $33-billion last year and about 98,000 employees, mainly in Quebec and Ontario, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc.

Magna and Linamar are almost entirely non-union and Delphi has no operations, employees or retirees in Canada.

But other companies operating in bankruptcy protection south of the border do have Canadian operations that were excluded from their filings and some of those plants are unionized.

Interior parts maker Collins & Aikman Corp. and metal stamping company Tower Automotive Inc. are two companies that have operations in Canada that continue to operate outside protection while their U.S. parents restructure.