CAW Chief: "We Are Close to the End of Our Ability to Give"
The Toronto Star reports that Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) president Ken Lewenza is repeating his call for import restrictions to protect his members’ livelihoods. But the chairman of the union’s bargaining committee isn’t making it a “do or die” precondition for Canadian bailout bucks for GM. “The union has repeatedly told Ottawa to fix the trade problem and limit imports, but Buckley would not comment on whether the federal and Ontario governments should refuse GM’s current requests for loans if the company plans to increase imports here.” Meanwhile, Lewenza said there are “multiple proposals for active workers which are much different” than what Chrysler employees recently accepted—so that company could qualify for Canadian aid. That said, “We are close to the end of our ability to give . . . Sooner or later, GM and the federal and provincial governments will realize that.” Reassuringly enough, there is some common ground: both (all?) sides agree that GM’s pension plan is in far worse shape than Chrysler’s after years of minimal contributions, made possible by a special provision in provincial legislation. See how that works?
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JG: "I hate cars." I love cars. It's politicians that I hate.
Ken reminds me of the old saying: "There are three kinds of people; those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened". Guess where Ken belongs.
rtx nailed it. Oshawa's assembly is damn good. The quality of the parts they are given to assemble is the problem, and continues to be. The decision making process for this nickel and diming originates where? (That's a rhetorical question of course.) Carry on with the management bonuses.
[...] http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/caw-chief-we-are-close-to-the-end-of-our-ability-to-give/AW allowed itself to negotiate a fair contract both at NUMMI and Spring Hill. In both cases, it was demonstrated that GM could build different/better cars and that the Union wasn’t really the boogeyman. … [...]