Canadian autoworkers balk at concessions

DETROIT, May 12 (UPI) -- The president of the Canadian Auto Workers says the union will not make concessions on wages, pensions or healthcare to U.S. automakers.

The CAW opens national labor negotiations with General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group on a contract covering 41,765 workers in mid-July.

GM has about 17,125 CAW workers, Ford 13,140 and Chrysler 11,500.

"We are not going to go backward, not on wages, pensions or other matters," CAW President Buzz Hargrove told the Detroit Free Press.

Hargrove says U.S. companies already get a break doing business in Canada because of its subsidized national healthcare.

An average CAW-covered worker makes about $54 an hour in U.S. dollars while UAW workers at the Big Three in the United States average more than $78 a hour, including benefits like pensions and medical care.

"We could work for free and they'd still have plenty of problems," Hargrove said. "Their issues are market share and all of the business they are losing to import vehicles."