Buzz Readies the Rhetoric

Frank Williams
by Frank Williams

Now that the UAW gave away the farm concluded its 2007 contract negotiations with the Big 2.8, it's the Canadian Auto Workers's (CAW) turn. CAW president Buzz Hargrove has publicly committed the union to opposing the two-tier wage system adopted by the United Auto Workers (UAW) at all three Detroit automakers. He'll attempt to forestall the change despite the fact that the rising Canadian dollar has eliminated Canada's competitive advantage over the lower 48. ReportOnBusiness reveals Buzz is addressing the problem with his usual combination of humility and tact. "We're not agreeing to a second-class group of workers at our plants that come in at half-pay and never get to top pay. That just isn't going to happen." Buzz reminded Canadian automakers that the UAW didn't accept wage and benefit cuts to reach parity with CAW salaries back when Canadian costs were lower than in the U.S. Even so, Buzz better have a good supply of Pepto-Bismol on hand when he starts negotiations; chance are he'll be eating his words right form the git-go.

Frank Williams
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  • Mikey Mikey on Jan 02, 2008

    As the saying goes"talk is cheap"I'm not sure about the other 1.8,but at GM Canada we have no future product alocation. Why did the UAW cave?No they didn,t give away the farm,they traded it.Two tiered wages for product alocation. Buzz might want to do a little research.A year and half ago we traded our cleaners and van drivers for the Flex/Camaro plant.The 1000 or so replacements,outside contracts all of em.Hey Buzz they are making 12 to 18$ an hour little to no benefits. I refuse to label anybody as second class,but if thats not 2 tiered wages,just WTF is? In Oshawa we got the W Buick and Impala,great value,but for how long?We got the best Pickups on the market today.Sales are just a little slow,and it don't look all that rosy in the future We are going to accept the same monetary package that our brothers and sisters in the U.S.did. For exatly the same reasons.

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