TORONTO, Oct. 15 — Less than a half-hour before picket lines were set to go up at five DaimlerChrysler plants in Canada, the Canadian Auto Workers union said tonight that it had reached a tentative agreement with the company on a new three-year contract covering 13,000 workers.þþThe deal, which will be put to a ratification vote on Sunday, comes after successful negotiations over the last month between the union and the Canadian units of the other two North American carmakers, General Motors and Ford. All three companies have agreed to new contracts that include wage increases of 3 percent in each of the first two years and 2 percent in the third, as well as improved benefits and substantial new investments in Canada.þþThe tentative agreement was announced just 25 minutes before the union's strike deadline of midnight. After predicting earlier in the day that a strike was all but inevitable, Buzz Hargrove, the union's president, said at a news conference tonight that DaimlerChrysler had agreed to ÿa massive new investmentÿ to produce an unidentified new vehicle at Windsor, Ontario, starting in the fourth quarter of 2005.þþMr. Hargrove said that the investment, totaling at least 600 million Canadian dollars ($378 million), would create ÿhundreds and hundredsÿ of jobs at the assembly plant as well as at parts facilities.þþA spokesman for DaimlerChrysler could not be reached for comment.þþDaimlerChrysler has two assembly plants in Windsor and one in Brampton, Ontario, as well as an aluminum castings plant in Toronto and a trim site in Ajax, Ontario. The Brampton line is the only source of Intrepid, Concorde and 300M sedans for the North American market. The parts factories supply DaimlerChrysler assembly lines in the United States as well as Canada.þþThe main point of disagreement was the future of the Pillette Road plant in Windsor, which makes Dodge Ram vans. During the last contract talks in 1999, DaimlerChrysler said that it would retool the plant for a new model after production of the Ram ended in 2003. The company said early last year, however, that in light of its revamping it had no new vehicle for the plant, which employs about 1,200 people.þþAnother sticking point was the company's proposal for more flexible work practices, including an end to a longstanding practice that gives workers at the Windsor plants the right to bid each year for any job on the basis of seniority.þþThe auto workers union had complained that Canadian plants were taking more than their fair share of job losses under DaimlerChrysler's North American restructuring plan. þþAll three assembly plants in Canada have scheduled temporary shutdowns of one to seven weeks between now and Christmas, suggesting that DaimlerChrysler has few concerns about the effect of a strike on its other operations in the short term.þþJeff Schuster, director of North American forecasting at the J. D. Power & Associates consulting firm in Detroit, said a prolonged strike might threaten production of the new Pacifica utility van, which is set to be introduced in the first half of next year and will be assembled at the Windsor minivan plant. ÿThey wouldn't want to jeopardize the launch of that vehicle,ÿ Mr. Schuster said.þþThe last strike in Canada was directed at General Motors in 1996. It lasted three weeks. The union has said that it has 51 million Canadian dollars ($32 million) in its strike fund.þþFor the first time, bargaining is not taking place simultaneously in the United States and Canada. The American plants of the three car companies are covered by a four-year agreement with the United Automobile Workers; it expires next year. þþ
Source: NY Times
