Skilled Trades Association, CAW Local 199 St. Catharines (General Motors Unit) | ||||||
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CAW leader aims for early settlements ahead of Big Three strike deadlines September 5, 2005, EST. TORONTO (CP) - The clock starts ticking this week for the Canadian Auto Workers union to negotiate new labour deals for more than 40,000 Ontario workers, but the union's leader is hoping for early settlements well ahead of strike deadlines. Sources expect CAW president Buzz Hargrove will announce Thursday that DaimlerChrysler has been selected as the union's strike target in negotiations for new three-year agreements this fall. Under pattern bargaining, the union selects one company with which to hold first negotiations on wages, pensions and other financial arrangements which the other two firms will be asked to accept. If DaimlerChrysler is indeed the target, the automaker will face a Sept. 20 strike deadline by more than 11,400 employees at Ontario factories in Windsor, Brampton and Etobicoke. But Hargrove - who maintains no final decision on a strike target will be made until Thursday - is optimistic walkouts can be avoided so neither the companies nor their workers suffer financially. GM and Ford have been reduced to junk-bond status on Wall Street this year amid falling profits. "We're certainly working towards a settlement and quite frankly, I'd like to do it before the 20th, given the state of the industry and the state of the companies," Hargrove said. "If we can do it early, I think that would be a credit to all of us." However, Hargrove will face some tough talks as he looks to bargain for wage increases and improve company pension plans at a time when the Big Three are looking to bring labour cost growth to a screeching halt. The companies argue costs need to be more competitive with so-called "transplant" companies like Nissan, Honda and Toyota. Their non-union workers are paid wages similar to those enjoyed by Big Three employees but have much lower legacy costs for pensions since they don't have anywhere near the same number of retirees in North America. The Big Three's market share in the United States, the world's biggest automotive market, totalled 58.6 per cent last year - down from 68.5 per cent in 2000 - with Toyota and others gaining ground. The Big Three say they don't blame union workers for the declines but maintain they can't recapture lost market share without improving their overall cost competitiveness. But the threat of strikes and the expertise of Hargrove and his CAW negotiating team means the companies will end up paying more to workers even though they can't afford it, says auto industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers. DesRosiers feels such a strategy, while improving compensation for workers in the short term, could lead to problems later on if factories have to significantly curtail production due to steep labour costs. "Buzz is a brilliant labour negotiator. At the end of the day, Buzz is going to come out smelling like a rose. His union will be worse off. . . but he personally is going to be viewed the big winner," DesRosiers says. There has only one major auto strike under Hargrove's watch. That was in 1996, when General Motors initially refused to accept a pattern agreement first negotiated with Chrysler. This time around, it's Ford that will be least likely to afford big pay raises and DesRosiers says the company really shouldn't be asked to participate in pattern bargaining - accepting terms negotiated with DaimlerChrysler and GM. "Ford is the most difficult negotiation amongst the three and they will be last," he says. The companies have warned cuts are coming. Hargrove said in July that DaimlerChrysler is looking at "significant" job cuts over the next two years at its two Ontario assembly plants plus the Etobicoke aluminum castings plant. And recent layoffs at Ford's Essex engine plant in Windsor have workers there concerned about their futures. DesRosiers says DaimlerChrysler is in the best financial shape of the three companies and is therefore in the best position to afford raises - making them the likely strike target. However, GM's lead negotiator for the CAW talks, Al Green, said in July that his company made $500 million US in Canada last year. Auto workers are well paid. Hourly wages for production workers currently total $31.50, or roughly $65,000 per year. Overall labour costs are much higher. The CAW's own figures suggest costs to employ the average assembly plant worker in Ontario totalled $70 an hour last year, including overtime premiums, paid time off, benefits and pensions. CAW economist Jim Stanford says that's still $10 US below what the Big Three pay workers at their American factories, despite record appreciation of the Canadian dollar since 2003. | ||||||
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