CAW Strikes Early Deal With Ford
Posted April 28, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
After days of unrest amongst Toronto’s transit union, another labour group has agreed on a tentative agreement with one of the Big Three automakers.
Buzz Hargrove, the president of the Canadian Autoworkers Union, announced Monday that a three-year “master economics” deal had been struck with Ford.
Under the tentative contract, wages would be frozen and vacation pay slashed, but base wages will remain unchanged.
It also prevents a two-tier wage system in which new employees would be paid half the hourly wages of existing workers. But new hires would start work at 70 percent of the top wage and would reach the maximum three years later.
The union plans to use the new master contract as the centrepoint for collective bargaining with other automakers. Hargrove is predicting early settlements with General Motors and Chrysler.
Ford workers are expected to vote on the agreement this weekend.
The tentative deal marks a major break with tradition where negotiations with the Big Three would not start until July of a contract year.
