Canadian Auto Workers members today ratified by a wide margin a new contract agreement with CAMI, the joint venture between General Motors Co. and Suzuki Motor Corp., the union said.
The approximately 2,250 CAW workers from the CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, approved the three-year pact with 61 percent of production workers and 89 percent of trades workers voting in favor of it. The contract includes benefit cuts and guarantees a replacement product in 2014 for the GM vehicles built at the plant.
“Our workers recognized the importance of long-term stability, and although no one wanted these contract changes, I believe stability is what we achieved with this new agreement,” said Mike Van Boekel, the CAW's chair for the CAMI plant, in a statement.
Similar to agreements the union reached this spring ahead of GM and Chrysler's bankruptcies, the CAMI deal freezes wages and pensions, cuts benefits, reduces break times and introduces a monthly health-care contribution, the union said. It also makes CAMI base wages equal with GM's companywide base for the first time in the joint venture's history.
Much of the agreement won't take effect until September 2010, the CAW said.
While the plant is still building two GM models, production of its Suzuki model, the XL7 SUV, was suspended in May. Suzuki has said it is committed to the 20-year-old joint venture, but it hasn't decided when it will resume production there.
Workers at the plant have survived GM's bankruptcy, which ended July 10, along with Suzuki's tanking sales. Suzuki's U.S. light-vehicle sales had fallen 54.9 percent through August, the biggest loss of any volume automaker.
The CAMI plant currently builds the Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain. GM plans to add a third shift in October.
The CAW is continuing its negotiations with Ford Motor Co. As of last week, the union said, Ford hadn't agreed to commit to continuing manufacturing in Canada.
Filed by Chrissie Thompson of Automotive News, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com
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