With a promise from General Motors to spend $554 million to expand operations in Canada, the union representing Canadian autoworkers now turns its attention to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, vowing to wrestle more commitments. In the deal with GM, Unifor members will receive a 2 per cent hike in hourly earnings and another 2 per cent in September 2019. The contract at Fiat Chrysler, which covers 9,750 Unifor members, expired on Sept. 19, and the union has set a strike deadline of 12:01 a.m. Oct. 11. “It’s the same battle over investment,” said Kristin Dziczek, director of research at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., but she expects Fiat Chrysler to push for changes to pensions for new hires. Fiat Chrysler declined to comment on the talks, which formally began on Monday, issuing a statement instead.

Source: thestar September 26, 2016 16:52 UTC