CAW: DaimlerChrysler strike likely

Canadian Auto Workers union President Buzz Hargrove Monday promised to teach DaimlerChrysler "one hell of a lesson" if the No. 3 automaker does not honor previous commitments to its Canadian operations.

Hargrove said unless DaimlerChrysler negotiators completely reverse their position, "we have no alternative. We'll be on the picket line some 36 hours from now."

"DaimlerChrysler is going to force our people on the street with no logic and no justification," Hargrove told a news conference.

"It is absolutely impossible to see how we can avoid a strike this morning."

DaimlerChrysler, the third of the Big Three automakers to negotiate a new contract with the CAW, faces a strike deadline of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.

DaimlerChrysler presented its first offer to the CAW and Hargrove said the economic package closely follows the pattern agreement negotiated with General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. The pattern agreement calls for annual raises of 3 percent during the first two years and 2 percent in the final year, plus cost-of-living increases and a $631 ($1,000 Canadian) signing bonus.

However, Hargrove said, the package makes few provisions for creating new jobs for the 5,000 autoworkers laid off in the last two years and the 1,100 jobs at stake at the Pillette Road van assembly plant in Windsor, Ontario, where production of the Dodge Ram is scheduled to end in July. It also seeks a number of concessions that Hargrove said are unacceptable.

Chrysler spokeswoman Kerrey Kerr confirmed there are no plans to produce any other vehicle at Pillette Road. The company said it would preserve 65 percent of the jobs if the new Pacifica takes off and sales improve for its refurbished minivan. However, Hargrove said, there were no guarantees.

"This road is the road to disaster," an angry Hargrove said.

"DaimlerChrysler is going to get one hell of a lesson before we're done here. We didn't come in looking for a fight. It makes no goddamn sense."

Hargrove said the company is seeking to roll back workers' rights, including seniority rules.

"We're not going to eliminate workers' rights," Hargrove vowed.

Hargrove rejected DaimlerChrysler arguments that workers' rights lead to cost increases. He said such arguments were proven wrong years ago and noted the union is not asking for improvements in work rules.

"It would appear we have some dinosaurs in charge of the house," he said of the DaimlerChrysler negotiators. "... Dinosaurs are great in museums but they don't work well in auto plants."

The CAW said Canada has absorbed the bulk of cutbacks as DaimlerChrysler struggled back from huge losses in the last two years. The union said though Canada represents only 11 percent of the DaimlerChrysler workforce, it has suffered 25 percent of the job cuts in 2001 and 2002.

Hargrove said DaimlerChrysler reneged on a promised $600 million investment in the Pillette Road facility made in 1999.

"We are incredibly frustrated and angry this morning at the lack of respect of DaimlerChrysler management for the commitments they've made with our union," Hargrove said, adding that negotiations have reverted to the adversary style that characterized contract talks in the 1970s and 1980s, which resulted in strikes every time.

"There was a threat this morning from their top negotiator that if we don't accept the logic of their demands, we could see a lot less investment (in Canada) ... We thought we had convinced them labor-management relations are a long-term proposition. ... In tough times, companies don't have the right to come to us and say, 'Roll back the clock.'"