CAW Shop Floor Leadership at GM Endorse Tentative Agreement

TORONTO, Sept. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - CAW shop floor leadership from across the General Motors chain today endorsed a new four-year collective agreement by a margin of 99 per cent. The tentative rejects permanent two-tier wages, provides cost of living lump sum payments, new investment, as well as provisions for greater job security.

"Our elected workplace representatives at General Motors confirmed today they are in support of this agreement which maintains the overall pattern which was first established at Ford," said CAW President Ken Lewenza. "Our members in Oshawa, St. Catharines and Woodstock, Ontario must now vote on the agreement."

The CAW-GM leadership meeting this morning at Toronto's Sheraton Centre Hotel was attended by 150 chairpersons, stewards and other elected shop floor representatives. The deal had been earlier endorsed by the union's GM master bargaining committee.

The union will hold a series of ratification meetings on Wednesday, September 26 and Thursday, September 27 where CAW members at GM will vote on the tentative agreement

The ratification meeting schedule is as follows:

CAW Local 222 - Wednesday, September 26 at 11:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. at the GM Centre (99 Athol Street East, Oshawa)

CAW Local 199 - Thursday, September 27 at 11:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. (L199 Hall 124 Bunting Road, St. Catharines)

CAW Local 636 - Thursday, September 27 at 10:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at Local 636 Hall (126 Beale St., Woodstock).

Media are welcome to attend.

Contract ratification results will be released on Thursday, September 27 in the early evening, once all votes have been cast and tallied. The CAW will send out the overall results in a Canada News Wire media advisory.

SOURCE Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW)