Tentative Contract With GM Canada Follows CAW’s Pattern Agreement With Ford Canada

OTTAWA—The Canadian Auto Workers union reached tentative agreement with General Motors of Canada Ltd. on a new four-year collective agreement that fully respects the pattern settlement set with Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd., CAW president Ken Lewenza said Sept. 20.

The three days of negotiations to convince GM to accept the pattern, particularly its lack of a United States-style two-tier wage system the automakers had demanded, were “hard sledding,” but GM ultimately accepted the union’s offer to hold the line on labor costs in exchange for full employment of CAW members at GM by the agreement’s end, Lewenza said ...