Magna International is expected to announce late on Monday (BST) an agreement that would open the auto parts maker to organising drives by the Canadian Auto Workers union, according to local reports published at the weekend.
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Citing stories posted Friday on the websites of Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper and the Financial Post said Magna chairman Frank Stronach would announce the agreement today at company headquarters in Aurora, Ontario.
Magna comment was not available while Canadian Auto Workers union president Buzz Hargrove was not available to comment “on any relationship with Magna until after Monday afternoon”, Reuters said, citing a CAW statement.
CAW spokeswoman Shannon Devine told the news agency there likely would be a “meeting” held just outside Toronto on Monday afternoon, but she declined to confirm or deny the reports on a deal between Magna and the CAW. Aurora is located just outside Toronto, Reuters noted.
Stronach later told the Globe and Mail on Sunday that the ‘Framework of Fairness’ agreement between Magna and the CAW was an evolution in the way business is done.
“We are looking for ways to keep jobs here to create new jobs. How can we make things work better?”
The paper said the deal would create a new opportunity for the union to organise the auto parts maker’s 61 plants in Canada and add as many as 19,000 workers in the automotive parts business, where CAW union membership has declined amid the closing of plants.
The union represents workers at three Magna plants in Ontario and a handful in the United States, the Globe and Mail noted.
Stronach reportedly said he hopes to strike a similar deal with the United Auto Workers (UAW) in the United States.
The Globe and Mail said that the two unions had for years demanded that the Detroit Three auto makers force management at their suppliers to remain neutral during organising drives but quoted Stronach as saying on Sunday that he was prepared to go a step further and actually recommend that employees vote in favour of the union.
Important matters in the workplace would be decided by a vote, he reportedly added.
The paper also noted that discussions on the Framework of Fairness started in autumn 2005 when Stronach approached Hargrove, who was in the midst of contract negotiations with the Canadian units of the Detroit Three which now account for more than half of Magna’s $US24.2bn in annual sales.
The Globe and Mail said Stronach’s Fair Enterprise model includes an employee charter of rights, a hotline to head office to report grievances and fairness committees in each workplace.
