CAW Picks GM as Next Bargaining Target

09/25/96

The Associated Press has reported that the next bargaining target for the Canadian Auto Workers union will be General Motors of Canada. The CAW has just bargained and ratified a new contract with Chrysler of Canada, leaving GM and Ford yet to go. Talks with GM are expected to be much more difficult than talks with Chrysler, which produced a landmark contract for the union that recognized the union's position on work ownership by preserving union jobs and restricting outsourcing. The new CAW-Chrysler contract also carries a good salary package.

Speaking about the newly ratified Chrysler pact and prospects for bargaining with GM, CAW President Buzz Hargrove told a news conference, "we have in place a pattern agreement that General Motors has no alternative but to accept."

The CAW set a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Oct. 2 on talks with GM. GM and the union must reach a tentative contract agreement by that deadline, or GM faces a strike. Earlier this season, Hargrove said he expected that the union would have to strike GM in order to get the automaker to sign a reasonable contract. Hargrove said Monday that the union would consider an escalating strike, targeting one plant at a time rather than all at once.

The CAW's top issue in negotiations this year is "outsourcing," the company practice of taking jobs away from union plants and giving it to outside suppliers. The CAW's new agreement with Chrysler restricts outsourcing, but analysts expect GM to resist the same provisions, as it is seeking to lay employees off. GM Canada is trying to sell its parts plants in Windsor and Oshawa, Ontario, which employ about 3,500. Hargrove has said the union is determined to force the company to reverse that decision.

Earlier this year GM sat through a strike over outsourcing at two Ohio brake plants last spring. The company was willing to lose $900 million in lost production rather than settle an outsourcing dispute with employees. Although GM eventually agreed to add jobs and upgrade the parts plants, allowing both sides to claim victory, the conflict did not result in any restrictions on GM's ability to outsource work.

GM Canada spokesman Greg Gibson said he expected contract talks would be difficult, but that he was optimistic a strike could be avoided: "there will be a lot of very difficult issues on the table, but with a lot of hard work both parties can reach resolution on them. We're optimistic going in."

Gibson declined to discuss the CAW's new pact with Chrysler, but suggested its outsourcing provisions will not meet GM's needs: "we need to talk about the issues that are important to our business and competitiveness, which may not be the same as they were for Chrysler or Ford."

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel