TORONTO - Canadian Auto Workers at four General Motors plants have ratified a new labour deal that mirrors agreements with other major auto makers.
The deal, struck four months before the current contract was set to expire, effects GM plants in Oshawa, St. Catharines, Woodstock and Windsor.
In a statement released Saturday, the CAW said the three-year deal resisted two-tier wages, improved benefits, and strengthened health and safety regulations.
The agreement received solid support across the province with 97 per cent of the Windsor employees who voted providing the most resounding endorsement. In Woodstock, 73 per cent of workers who voted supported the deal.
Under the agreement, reached on Thursday, a plant in Oshawa will begin building a new Camaro sports car, along with a rear-wheel drive car.
The contract also preserves one shift at the truck assembly factory in Oshawa until 2009.
The deal comes as rising fuel prices and a high Canadian dollar continue to batter the domestic auto manufacturing industry.
CAW president Buzz Hargrove said the current economic challenges made the current bargaining talks especially challenging and commended negotiators for striking a deal under difficult circumstances.
"We entered this round of bargaining knowing the unprecedented economic and political challenges facing auto workers in Canada," Hargrove said in the statement.
"Despite the odds being stacked against us we were committed to reaching an agreement that would protect the important gains our union has made over the years. I'm pleased to say that we did that."
GM has recently announced massive layoffs and cuts across Ontario, including the closure of a Windsor transmission plant by mid-2010 affecting 1,400 workers.
