DaimlerChrysler, Union Reach Pact
DaimlerChrysler reached a tentative three-year labor contract agreement with the Canadian Auto Workers to avert a strike that could have disrupted the U.S. operations of the world’s fifth-largest auto maker.
On the other side of the border, the United Auto Workers set a strike deadline for Friday at No. 2 Ford Motor Co., the last of the three Detroit companies to complete a deal with the union.
The Canadian accord was reached two hours before the deadline for a strike, which would have stopped production immediately at five parts and assembly plants in Ontario province.
CAW President Buzz Hargrove said at a news conference here that the DaimlerChrysler deal was modeled on an agreement the rank-and-file ratified last week with Ford’s Canadian affiliate.
Under the proposed agreement with DaimlerChrysler, which is scheduled to be ratified Sunday, wages would rise 13.5% over three years and employees would receive a signing bonus and an extra week’s paid vacation.
Hargrove said the union did not make any progress in its effort to force DaimlerChrysler to pressure a supplier, Magna International Inc., to recognize the union at a plant near Windsor, Ontario, that makes minivan seats.
“We’re walking away empty-handed on the Magna issue,” Hargrove said.
The CAW, which represents 13,800 DaimlerChrysler workers, had threatened to strike at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.
DaimlerChrysler last month reached a new four-year contract with the United Auto Workers covering about 70,000 U.S. workers. Though the CAW negotiations involved fewer workers, the company had acknowledged that a Canadian strike would have quickly disrupted its U.S. operations.
Two of DaimlerChrysler’s five plants in Ontario are component facilities whose products include pistons and other engine and transmission parts for high-profit pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles built in the U.S. Its three Canadian assembly plants turn out more than 500,000 vehicles a year, including its popular Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager minivans and several of its large-car models, including the Chrysler 300M, LHS and Concorde.
In the U.S., the UAW set a Ford strike deadline of 3:30 p.m. Eastern time Friday, company and union officials said. The union is still trying to persuade the auto maker to drop a proposed spinoff of its Visteon parts unit, a person familiar with the UAW’s plans said. The union fears that a spinoff may result in fewer union jobs and lower wages.
Ford still hopes a strike can be avoided, company spokesman Ed Miller said. Frank Joyce, a UAW spokesman, could not be reached for comment.
The UAW represents about 100,000 Ford workers, including about 23,500 at Visteon.
Ford shares rose 50 cents to close at $51.81 on the New York Stock Exchange. DaimlerChrysler rose $1.38 to $72.38, also on the NYSE.
Bloomberg News and the Associated Press were used in compiling this report.
