CAW and GM Canada Say Outsourcing Issue Resolved, Agreement Imminent

10/22/96

Reuters has reported that the Canadian Auto Workers union and General Motors of Canada have resolved the contentious issue of outsourcing, which lies at the center of the Canadian union's two week old strike against GM Canada. The sides had hoped to announce an agreement by noon on Monday, but the CAW postponed a news conference that they had scheduled for midday, as negotiators were still working.

Hargrove said the 26,000 striking workers, who started their escalating strike on Oct. 2, could start returning to work as early as Wednesday afternoon, if a tentative deal were reached Monday: "everyone can start returning to work by late Wednesday."

GM Canada spokesman Stew Low announced that the groundwork the two sides have already laid on the issue of outsourcing was sufficient cause to be confident of a deal which meets the labor agreement pattern the union set at Chrysler Corp. earlier this year: "I think there is enough common ground for the CAW to say they have met the pattern and hopefully our needs as well."

At the same time, on Sunday both sides cautioned that the bargaining hadn't ended yet, and that there was still a lot of work to do before an agreement would be reached.

By Monday morning GM announced that it had laid off 18,371 assembly and parts plant workers in the U.S. and Mexico because of shortages of Canadian parts. That figure included 10,893 more laid off workers than the company had announced on Friday.

The CAW strike began when this year's contract talks stalled over GM Canada's plans to close down 4 Canadian plants and outsource work that would have meant a loss of over 5,000 Canadian Auto Worker jobs. The turning point came when GM's president, Jack Smith, flew from Detroit to Toronto last Wednesday to address the CAW occupation of a GM plant in Oshawa, Ontario plant about 30 miles (50 km) east of Toronto. Workers occupied their workplace when they learned that GM had decided to seek a court injunction to move equipment out of the plant to keep production moving at another site.

Hargrove reported Smith's reaction to the occupation: "Mr Smith was taken aback by this issue and he said to me that this is not going to leave a very good impression on the leadership of General Motors."

Hargrove said he told Smith that the union was fed up with GM's Canadian executives and that Smith should tell them to get back to the bargaining table. "Before the two hours was up," Hargrove continued, "that's exactly what happened."

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel