Ford workers approved a cost-cutting agreement with management that includes shutting down a manufacturing plant in Canada in 2011, a move that will cut 1,500 jobs, the Canadian Auto Workers union said on Sunday.
“No one should mistake workers’ approval as satisfaction with the new agreement,” union president Ken Lewenza said after the agreement passed with 83 percent of the vote.
“Members had faith in the union to negotiate the best agreement possible and protect their interests over the long term, but the problems faced by industry cannot be resolved at the bargaining table,” Lewenza added.
Besides the loss of some 1,500 jobs at the Ford plant in St Thomas, Ontario, which will close in the third quarter of 2011, the deal on Friday includes a reduction in vacation, break times and co-payments on healthcare.
The agreement, which expires in September 2012, includes a commitment by the US automaker to keep at least 10 percent of its North American production in Canada.
No estimates were provided on the savings the cost-cutting agreement will entail.
The deal is the second cost-cutting pact reached between the union and Ford in 18 months.
Although Ford did not accept bailout money from the US government like Chrysler and General Motors (GM) did, the union said Ford followed the pattern set out earlier in the year by its US rivals to cut significant portions of their Canada operations as part of restructuring.
In their deals, GM and Chrysler workers accepted US$16 and US$19-per-hour pay cuts respectively.
Chrysler and GM filed for bankruptcy and received billions of dollars in US government aid. Canada’s government also pumped billions of dollars into the companies as part of packages to keep their auto manufacturing operations afloat.
The St Thomas plant produces the Ford Crown Victoria — a model routinely chosen by US police forces and New York taxis — and the Mercury Grand Marquis.
Besides the loss of some 1,500 jobs at the Ford plant in St Thomas, Ontario, which will close in the third quarter of 2011, the deal on Friday incluldes a reduction in vacation, break times and co-payments on healthcare.
The agreement, which expires in September 2012, includes a commitment by the US automaker to keep at least 10 percent of its North American production in Canada.
No estimates were provided on the savings the cost-cutting agreement will entail.
The deal is the second cost-cutting agreement reached between the union and Ford in 18 months.
Although Ford did not accept bailout money from the US government like Chrysler and General Motors (GM) did, the union said Ford followed the pattern set out earlier in the year by its US rivals to cut significant portions of their Canada operations as part of restructuring.
In their deals, GM and Chrysler workers accepted US$16 and US$19-per-hour pay cuts respectively.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the