Canadian Auto Workers Reach Tentative Agreement with Chrysler

09/19/96

Reuters reported that the CAW and Chrysler Canada have come to a tentative agreement on a contract that covers 12,600 Canadian auto workers. CAW President Buzz Hargrove said that the Chrysler Canada's agreement with the CAW did not include many of the concessions that the carmaker sought.

The CAW said the agreement included a 2-percent wage increase for each year of the three-year contract, and improvements to the workers' health care plan. The workers did not give in to Chrysler's demands for user fees, co-payments, or cost limits on their health and benefit plans. Additionally, the union said the pact will limit Chrysler's outsourcing and place a three-year embargo on the sale or closing of any profitable plants.

Hargrove said, "All of the concessions that the company had on the table have been successfully removed and improvements have been made in many areas in our health care plan."

For their part, Chrysler officials said the deal satisfies the corporations concerns in a changing market: "during the term of this agreement there won't be major outsourcing, but it still gives us flexibility in certain areas as long as we're in discussions with the CAW" said a Chrysler spokesman.

The company signed the agreement with the workers just one and one-half hours before the union-set strike deadline expired, and Chrysler Canada officials said the company was relieved to have avoided the strike. The strike deadline had originally been set for midnight on Saturday--when the contract expired--but the workers extended the deadline to give bargainers more time to craft a deal that both sides would accept.

Earlier Tuesday, reports said that Hargrove had suspended talks with the carmaker because of its demand for concessions on outsourcing parts work to non-union suppliers. The CAW reportedly said they thought they would have to strike. Later the CAW announced that Chrysler had recognized its employees right to work, thus clearing the way for an agreement.

The CAW will hold a ratification vote on the agreement on Sunday, and has announced that the pact will set the pattern of bargaining for negotiations with the Canadian subsidiaries of Ford and GM. Hargrove said the CAW will announce the target of its next negotiations on Monday.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel