CAW union says pressing for new GM Canada deal

[shinzon]

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/..._N12311898.htm

any idea of what happens if this deal doesn't go down.

"The union said at the end of last week that Ottawa had warned that without new cost concessions with the struggling automaker, GM would likely be forced to liquidate its Canadian operations."

[2LT/RS]

Without the government funding GM will file for bankruptcy (in Canada) and possibly liquidate it's assett's. That means no more Camaro until (if) they can move production to the U.S. We'll know by Friday. Hopefully they pull something together.

[Hylton]

Bit of a game going on I say. Just going to have to keep our fingers crossed.

[Zabo]

Don't want to say it, but I hope it doesn't come to "It was fun while it lasted."

[2010SSRSM6]

I'm so sick of all the union crap. That is what got the automakers in this mess to begin with.

[truth411]

Originally Posted by 2010SSRSM6

I'm so sick of all the union crap. That is what got the automakers in this mess to begin with.

While they are clearly a contributor, your statement is an exageration.

[shinzon]

I don't even know anymore....

[2LT/RS]

Just copied this off a Canadian Press release. It was posted about an hour ago.

TORONTO - Negotiations between the Canadian Auto Workers and General Motors Canada ground ahead slowly Friday as the automaker made demands far greater than the union granted to Chrysler last month, CAW president Ken Lewenza said.

Lewenza gave the brief update just hours before a midnight deadline set by the federal and Ontario governments.

"It's slow, but we're making progress. It's stressful because the demands are significant and our committees are grasping at them one tiny step at a time," Lewenza said in an interview.

"The reality is the company has way too many proposals on the table and we don't have any. So it's one-way bargaining at this particular time, and their demands are much more excessive than what Chrysler asked for."

A GM Canada spokesman wouldn't comment on details of the negotiations, but said there was "lots of hard work going on."

CAW members ratified a deal with GM in March, less than a year after settling a three-year contract, but the two governments almost immediately said it didn't do enough to cut costs.

Without a more stringent deal, the governments have said they won't give GM Canada $6 billion in financial assistance it has requested, meaning that in a worst-case scenario the company's Canadian assets could be liquidated.

GM has until the end of May to provide governments in Canada and the United States with a restructuring plan that could include filing for bankruptcy protection.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the government is asking a lot of GM workers, but it's the only way the company will survive.

"I understand for many people, particularly the people on the line, these are very difficult decisions with very real impacts on their lives," Harper said Friday in Toronto.

"But at the same time, the taxpayers of Canada cannot be expected to support the restructuring unless the restructuring will be successful, and that is going to require difficult decisions on the part of everyone."

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty echoed Harper, emphasizing the need for an "extraordinary new arrangement."

"There's much at risk here and I think our response, given how much is at risk, has to be proportional in nature, which means we're all going to have to dig deep if we're going to make a go of this," McGuinty said.

Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement plans to go to Washington on Tuesday to meet U.S. officials.

At particular issue is GM Canada's ballooning pension deficit. It was about $4.9 billion as of November 2007, but reports say it bloated to $7 billion after financial markets crashed last year.

Lewenza has said the issue of pensions cannot be resolved at the bargaining table.

The CAW blames the Ontario government for giving GM Canada a holiday on contributions to its pension fund in the 1990s, when it was considered "too big to fail."

Ontario Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant has said retired workers' pensions won't be touched.

Instead, it's likely the CAW will be asked to give GM similar concessions to those it gave Chrysler Canada in a deal reached last month that cut that company's labour costs by about $19 an hour.

Among many other concessions, that agreement gives Chrysler 10 years instead of five to top up its pension fund and, for the first time, workers will contribute toward their pensions, at $1 per hour.

Tony Faria, co-director of the automotive research centre at the University of Windsor, expected GM to demand the same and more.

"About the only way they're going to be able to start making a dent in that pension shortfall is current active workers are going to have to start contributing to the pension plan, which they're not doing currently," Faria said.

"Plus current active workers are going to have to agree to a lesser pension than current General Motors retirees are receiving, so that in the future there will be smaller payouts."

GM Canada currently employs 7,500 hourly workers in at a car plant in Oshawa, a transmission plant in Windsor and an engine plant in St. Catharines. It also operates the GM-Suzuki joint-venture CAMI plant in Ingersoll, also in southern Ontario.

A truck plant in Oshawa closed Thursday and the Windsor transmission factory will be shut next year.

[mamaro]

According to this news article, they (CAW) were to meet this morning to
vote, but they don't have a deal to vote on. Sorry, it's a long article, but
good information if you're interested in keeping up on the talks.

Updated Fri. May. 15 2009 11:20 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The midnight deadline for the Canadian Auto Workers' union and GM Canada
to reach a labour concession deal has passed without word that a new
agreement has been reached.

Shannon Devine, a spokesperson for the CAW, told CTV.ca late Friday night
that the union did not expect to strike a deal but that "we're going to
continue talking until we reach an agreement." Devine had said the union
committee that would vote on a potential agreement is meeting at 9 a.m.
Saturday, but it appears they do not have a deal to vote on.

She said no announcement of a potential agreement could take place before
the committee meets. CAW president Ken Lewenza says his union is locked in
the most difficult bargaining process ever as it struggles to reach a cost-
cutting deal with GM Canada by midnight.

"This is the third time we've been in bargaining with General Motors in the last
12 months," he told CTV Newsnet on Friday. The union has offered the
Chrysler deal, which resulted in a total compensation cut of $19 per hour or
about 25 per cent, but the company "continues to be overzealous," he
claimed. "They say the Chrysler deal doesn't meet their needs." The Chrysler
deal protected base wages for workers, but benefits took a hit.

Lewenza said his union is trying to reach a deal that "minimizes the pain" for
its membership while earning the support of the federal and Ontario
governments. A GM Canada spokesman would only say there is "lots of hard
work going on."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said further government help is contingent on
a "viable, sustainable" company emerging. "I don't think we relish this kind of
participation in a private-sector company," he told reporters Friday at a
Toronto news conference held to make a public transit funding
announcement.

"But as we have said, if all of the stakeholders in General Motors are prepared
to do the things necessary to ensure the long-run viability of the company,
we are prepared to work together in concert with the government of the
United States to make sure that we preserve our share of auto production in
this country." Harper sidestepped the question of whether Ottawa would help
Queen's Park cover a $7-billion pension liability if negotiations fail and GM
Canada goes under. Ontario's Premier Dalton McGuinty said in the case of
Chrysler, "each (stakeholder) decided they had to give something in order to
save the whole. "And we're convinced that with goodwill and determination,
we can arrive at a solution here," he said. McGuinty repeated his
government's line that the best way to protect GM pensioners is to "ensure
that GM is viable going forward."

If no agreement is reached, both the federal and Ontario government will cut
off financial support. In the words of CAW Union President Ken Lewenza, GM
Canada will be "liquidated." Lewenza said the union is "not even close" to a
deal as of early Friday afternoon.

The pension issue

GM and the union reached an agreement in March that reduced total labour
compensation costs by $7 per hour or about 10 per cent. Lewenza claimed
that the union made a $500-million sacrifice in the areas of retirement and
health benefits. But the federal and provincial government said it didn't cut
labour costs enough, and ordered the two sides back to the bargaining table.


The prospect of GM Canada's "liquidation" would be daunting, considering how
integrated the Canadian wing is with the parent company. The main sticking
point in negotiations is pensions, both present and future. Analyst Richard
Cooper, of JD Power Associates Canada, says the unions and GM have a
"tough road ahead" on the pension issue. "The issue for General Motors is
that so many of the people who are dependant on them are not active
workers anymore. It's those legacy costs," Cooper told CTV's Canada AM. On
Thursday, a group of retired GM workers staged a sit-in at the office of
Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, demanding more pension protection.
The minister told the pensioners in Windsor on Friday that their concerns are
valid.

Duncan said he plans to bring in legislation in the fall to address the issue of
provincial backup for at-risk private pensions. All this is happening amid the
backdrop of Thursday's closing of GM's truck plant in Oshawa, Ont. The last
pickup truck rolled off the assembly line, and the workers sent home. The
plant had been in operation since 1965, and produced 10 million vehicles.
General Motors chose to close the most productive, high-quality plant in the
world, and that's a decision we opposed," Lewenza said, noting the CAW
protests of last year.

Thursday was a painful day for his members, "but for the next few hours,
we've got to concentrate on what we've got left," he said. Meanwhile, south
of the border, GM told 1,100 U.S. owners that their franchise agreements will
not be renewed. In Canada, GM will reduce its dealerships to something
between 395 and 425 by the end of 2010. There are currently 705
dealerships. An estimated 12,000 jobs will be affected.

This comes a day after Chrysler dropped 789 of its dealers.

With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press