General Motors of Canada is still not ready to take on the contract settlement pattern set out in earlier talks with other automakers this month, the Canadian Auto Workers told Reuters on Sunday.
CAW president Buzz Hargrove reportedly said the automaker’s chief negotiator, Al Green, gave the union the update as negotiations between the country’s biggest automaker and the union continued at a Toronto hotel.
“Mr. Green stated I will call you early tomorrow to let you know if and when GM is prepared to table an economic offer,” Hargrove said in a statement, adding: “It is not clear how much progress can be made until the pattern agreement is tabled.”
Reuters noted that GM is the last of the Big Three automakers to hammer out a new contract with the CAW after the union struck new three-year contract deals with Ford of Canada and then DaimlerChrysler Canada earlier this month.
Ford workers ratified their deal last Sunday while union members at DaimlerChrysler accepted the agreement on Sunday, the report added.
The CAW, which represents more than 17,000 workers at GM Canada, reportedly said GM objected to the pattern set out in the earlier offers because it would raise its pension costs by an annualised $C70 million ($US60 million) above what the other two automakers had agreed to.
Reuters noted that Hargrove said on Saturday he was pessimistic about the status of talks heading into a strike deadline of 11:59 pm EDT on Tuesday.
