GM CAMI workers in Ontario vote for deal that ends month-long strike

Workers at General Motors'CAMIplant in Ingersoll, Ont., voted Monday to accept an agreementending afour-week-long strike.

• GM, union reach tentative deal at Ontario CAMI plant

The union released results showing 85.9 per cent of its membership accepted the four-year contract, with 78.7 per cent of skilled trade workers agreeing to the terms.

The contract proposal was hammered out last weekand Unifor, which represents the 2,800 affectedworkers, is recommending the deal be accepted.

CBC News has seen a copy of the proposal that workers voted on in London.

Details include:

• Salary increase of fourper cent over fouryears.
• $2,000 lump sum each year for fouryears.

What the deal does not include, however, is what Uniforsaid it has been pushing for since workers walked out on Sept. 17, a guarantee from GM that Ingersoll jobs wouldn't be sent to the carmaker'stwo plants in Mexico. Those plants also produce the company's top selling ChevroletEquinox.

"Despite our every effort, General Motors steadfastly refused to accept our members' reasonable demand to designate the CAMI plant as General Motors lead producer for the ChevyEquinox," Uniforpresident Jerry Dias wrote in a message to local union members voting on the tentative deal.

UniforLocal 88 president Dan Borthwicktold CBC Newson Monday that theunion didn't get the guarantees it wanted from the automaker because of GM executives' "greed and power."

'It's about greed and power'

7 years ago

Duration 0:18

Unifor local 88 president Dan Borthwick on why GM wouldn't give Ingersoll's CAMI plant a guarantee Canadian jobs wouldn't go to Mexico

Borthwick also said renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement also played a role in bargaining between the union and GM, as Americans demand tough concessions on car manufacturing from Canadian and Mexican negotiators at the talks.

"We still need job security in this country," Borthwicksaid. "Thousands and thousands of jobs have been lost in this country since the free trade agreements came into effect 25 years ago. We as a collective nation need to do something better to keep manufacturing jobs in this country."

"The fight is not over," he said.

The automaker threatened last week to shift more production to Mexico if a settlement wasn't reached swiftly and the two sides agreed to a dealon Friday.

Deal is 'welcome news'

GM Canada issued a statement after the vote results were released, calling the ratification "welcome news for our company, employees and the community.'

"I am confident that we will quickly pull together to continue to demonstrate to the world the outstanding productivity, innovation and quality that is synonymous with the CAMIworkforce," Steve Carlisle, president and managing director of GMCanada said in the statement.

"The challenges of the past months have been hard on all of us but now it's time to show the character of our region and our plant."

Union officials expect workers to return to the jobMondaynight.