Canada : GM, union in final talks ahead of strike deadline
TORONTO, Sept 17 General Motors Co andthe Canadian union Unifor began the final stretch of talks onSaturday, divided ahead of a looming strike deadline over uniondemands that the U.S. carmaker commit
to new vehicle models atits Oshawa, Ontario plant.
The union said GM was chosen as Unifor's strike target forthe talks, with any deal setting the pattern for the next roundof talks with other manufacturers, including Fiat ChryslerAutomobiles and Ford Motor Co.
A four-year contract covering some 20,000 Canadianautoworkers at Fiat Chrysler, Ford and GM expires on Sept. 19.If GM and Unifor do not reach a deal, workers would go on strikeas of 12 a.m. EDT (0400 GMT) Tuesday.
GM's plant in Oshawa, just east of Toronto, is on the vergeof shutting one of its two assembly lines, with several vehicleseither already produced elsewhere or expected to move in 2017.
Unifor has said it has made no progress in getting a newvehicle commitment for Oshawa.
GM on Friday said only that it remains focused on workingwith Unifor to reach a "mutually beneficial and competitive newagreement," but did not reiterate its previous stance that itwill make future product decisions for Oshawa only after a laboragreement.
A strike at Oshawa, which assembles the Chevrolet Impala,Buick Regal and Cadillac XTS sedans as well as some otheroverflow work, would not cause much hardship for GM.
But if workers at its Ingersoll CAMI plant, who have thesame union but a different contract, support the strike andrefuse to install engines and transmissions diverted from U.S.or Mexican plants, it would be more damaging for GM. The CAMIplant assembles GM's strong-selling Chevrolet Equinox and theGMC Terrain.
Unifor, which represents more than 20,000 autoworkers, hassaid its top priority is securing production of new vehiclemodels. Pensions and wages are also on the table.
Nearly all of Canada's auto industry is in the province ofOntario, which some automakers have found more expensive thanother places, such as the southern United States and Mexico.
Between 2001 and 2013, some 14,300 jobs were lost in vehiclemanufacturing in Canada, according to Hamilton's AutomotivePolicy Research Center.
Automakers, however, had agreed to make investments duringbargaining.
The U.S. United Auto Workers has said it will support itsCanadian counterpart, but declined to say whether it wouldrefuse work at American GM plants in the event of a strike northof the border.
(Reporting by Ethan Lou in Toronto, editing by G Crosse)