Unprecedented opposition to CAW's concession-filled deal with Ford Canada

This is the lowest percentage for a contract ratification with one of the Big Three US-based automakers in the unions history. Moreover, at Fords flagship Oakville assembly plant just west of Toronto, members of CAW Local 707 rejected the deal by a margin of 56 percent. The rejection in Oakville was also an historic milestone. Never before has a CAW local voted against a master contract that the unions leadership negotiated with one of the Big Three.

Reports from the Oakville ratification meeting described the atmosphere as raucous. Afterward, union leaders could barely restrain their contempt for the democratic will of the membership.

Local 707 president Gary Beck remarked that workers didnt see outside of whats going on at our plant. Becks remarks are a crude attempt to insinuate the Local 707 members are selfish because they rebuffed the union bureaucracys argument that massive concessions are needed to ensure Ford is competitive and thereby protect jobs.

In reality, the unprecedented concessions to Ford, which effectively entailed opening up the existing agreement and include unprecedented wage and benefit cuts, are aimed at ensuring the interests of Fords shareholders and the CAW bureaucracy at the expense of Ford workers and indeed the working class as wholesince the Ford agreement will be seized on by both big business and the unions to press for further concession from workers in basic industry.

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