TORONTO - The Canadian Auto Workers union doesn't have an agreement on cost concessions at Chrysler Canada but came "within inches" of a deal twice this week, CAW president Ken Lewenza said Friday.
"Both times, the goal posts shifted. And that's a challenge for us because we're trying to understand now who's making the final decisions for Chrysler," Lewenza told a news conference.
He wondered aloud whether the Canadian division's bargaining team is being overruled by Chrysler LLC majority owner Cerberus Capital, or by the U.S. parent company's bankers or the U.S. Treasury.
"Is there something that we're not aware of? Because we can't rationalize why every time we figured we got close, the post moved," Lewenza said.
The two sides continued talking Friday, but adjourned talks in the evening to allow the union's negotiating team to consult with the membership at meetings planned for Saturday and Sunday.
"We're still talking but we're not making much progress," Lewenza said in a phone interview Friday night.
The company and CAW hoped to resume talks later Saturday after union negotiators briefed the membership.
"We're going to continue to talk, absolutely," Lewenza said. "We're staying connected."
Tony Faria, co-director of the automotive research centre at the University of Windsor, said there is no question Cerberus is involved in the negotiations.
"It's quite possible that the Canadian Chrysler negotiating team was bending a bit on a few issues but when they communicated that information they were told, `No, you've got to hold the line on that,"' Faria said.
Chrysler stated that it hasn't been able to reach an agreement that would make it competitive in Canada but "the company has been very clear and consistent in its position."
While the CAW insists on maintaining its tradition of pattern bargaining, demanding that Chrysler accept cost-cutting terms already agreed to by General Motors, the Chrysler statement declared that "these are not normal business circumstances and all Chrysler constituents have been asked to break pattern -- employees, retirees, dealers, suppliers and others."
Lewenza said the CAW team is willing to keep negotiating and has asked the Chrysler side to remain available until Tuesday -- the end-of-the-month deadline for the company to submit a restructuring proposal supporting its request for US$2.3 billion from the federal and Ontario governments.
A spokeswoman for federal Industry Minister Tony Clement said he is "not married to the deadline." A spokesman for Ontario Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant said the minister was keeping a close eye on the negotiations, but didn't specify whether he would be willing to push back the deadline.
Chrysler's U.S. parent, regarded as the weakest financially of the Detroit Three carmakers, is also seeking billions of dollars in loans from the American government.
The CAW's Lewenza expressed frustration that the two sides couldn't reach an agreement, though he pointed out that the three-year wage-freeze contract signed last spring still has more than two years to run.
"What makes this unusual is that there's no strike deadline, there's no lockout opportunity for the corporation.... This is not traditional bargaining," Lewenza said.
"Obviously, the only pressure we have on us today is to respond to the terms and conditions of the provincial and federal loan. But, legally, we have a legal, binding contract that takes us to 2011."
Chrysler, with 10,000 hourly workers in Canada at vehicle assembly plants in Brampton, Ont., and Windsor, Ont., and a casting plant in Toronto, wants deeper concessions than GM agreed to earlier this month, especially on health care and pension costs.
For the CAW, a break in pattern bargaining would be a major departure. The union has signed almost identical contracts with GM, Ford and Chrysler in Canada for years.
Faria said pattern bargaining is a concept "out of the past," and what works for one company won't necessarily work for the others anymore.
"We're not in a situation like we were when pattern bargaining first began, where the Detroit Three were reasonably similar as companies."
Lewenza said different contracts would give one automaker a competitive advantage over its rivals, something the union is reluctant to see.
Ahead of the talks, Chrysler LLC president Tom LaSorda described the CAW agreement with GM as "unacceptable" and raised the spectre of a complete pullout from Canada if the company doesn't get what it needs from its Canadian workers and governments.
The GM deal freezes wages until 2012 and suspends inflation adjustments. It also reduces paid time off by 40 hours per year, scraps an annual $1,700 bonus, cuts company contributions to union-sponsored programs, and requires CAW members to contribute $30 a month to their health benefits.
Chrysler has estimated this reduces GM's labour costs by $7 an hour but has stated it needs a reduction of $19 an hour.
Ford of Canada will also renegotiate its contract with the CAW, although the company has said it doesn't need government financial assistance. Instead, Ford has called for government incentives to encourage car buying.
