CAW Strikes a Deal with Ford, Gives GM and Chrysler More Time to Make Up Their Minds

Negotiations between the Canadian Auto Workers’ union and Ford resulted in a tentative deal concerning the new four-year contract between the workers and the automaker, averting the proposed strike that would start on Monday midnight if a deal couldn't be reached.

Though the deal still needs to be ratified by the union members, it includes creating 600 new jobs, modifying the two-tier wage system, paying CAW members US$9,234 in bonuses over the life of the contract and eliminating guaranteed cost-of-living wage increases. Moreover, new hires will start at about US$21 an hour, but will receive full wages of about $35 an hour after 10, instead of six, years.

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CAW Makes Some Concessions Over New Contract with Detroit 3, Carmakers Still Undecided

Three days before the expiration of the ultimatum that the Canadian Auto workers’ union (CAW) has issued to GM, Ford and Chrysler, the union has made some concessions over the new contract in order to avert a simultaneous strike at all three carmakers' Canadian plants as it has threatened.

The CAW is proposing a lower starting wage for newly hired workers and a longer time for them to reach the top of the pay scale. Moreover, unlike current workers, new employees will contribute to their pensions but will still be entitled to a defined-benefit, not a defined-contribution pension.

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CAW-Detroit Big 3 Negotiations Continue but Still No Deal Reached, Triple Strike Looms

With only four days remaining until the end of the current contract between the Canadian Auto Workers’ union (CAW) and the Detroit's Big Three, the union announced on Wednesday that meetings between the two parties are becoming more frequent, yet they “have not yielded many results”, which is bringing the event of a triple strike even closer.

September 17 has been set as a deadline from CAW. Unless a deal is reached by midnight, then the union members have voted almost unanimously to strike at GM, Ford and Chrysler, all at the same time.

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CAW Threatens to Strike Detroit's Big 3 Simultaneously if They Don’t Agree on New Contract

The Canadian Auto Workers’ union (CAW) is the largest private sector union in the country with over 200,000 members. On September 5, it announced that it would strike General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, if contract talks do not progress.

This is the first time in its history that the CAW threatens to strike all three Detroit carmakers at the same time. The last strike organized by CAW was in 1996 against GM.

The union announced that all of its members will go on strike, since 99 percent of Chrysler Canada, 98 percent of General Motors of Canada and 97 percent of Ford Canada have voted in favor of the move.

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