General Motors is First Target for Canadian Auto Workers

The Canadian Auto Workers union has decided to target General Motors as the subject of its initial round of labor negotiations.
General Motors’ profitability over the past year has been has been cited as the reason the automaker has been targeted. The union will hope to use whatever deal it negotiates with G.M. as a basis for contracts with Ford and DaimlerChrysler as well.
CAW President Buzz Hargrove is reported to have told G.M. negotiators that he would like to have a deal by midnight on September 17, which is a date CAW members have already authorized as a strike deadline. Both sides started negotiations in July.
Besides wage hikes, the CAW is looking for more job security, with concerns that new assembly operations being established in Canada are not keeping up with the shutdown of old facilities.
On wages, base pay for a CAW is C$27.70 ($18.45 U.S.) for assembly workers and C$33.00 ($22.00 U.S.) for specialists.
The CAW has not revealed what its targets are for negotiations with G.M. and says that it doesn’t plan to make that information public.