Ford workers endorse latest deal

Thousands of Ford workers in Ontario have ratified their latest agreement with the automaker.

Members of the Canadian Auto Workers union in Oakville, Windsor, St. Thomas and Bramalea voted 83 per cent overall in favour during a series of meetings held in the past two days. The results were announced only Sunday afternoon.

"No one should mistake workers' approval as satisfaction with the new agreement," CAW president Ken Lewenza saidin a release. "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."

Stacey Allerton Firth, Ford's vice-president of human resources in Canada, said the agreement was a credit to the relationship the company has with the CAW.

"Both the union and the company realized that we had to work collaboratively to meet the competitive challenges facing the industry," she said in a release.

The tentative deal, reached Friday between the companyand the union,includes a commitment that the company's Canadian operations will manufacture 10 per cent of the vehicles Ford makes in North America.

Ford currently makes roughly 13 per cent of its North American output in Canada, a percentage the union was pushing to maintain.

The deal is the second cost-cutting agreement reached between Ford Motor Co. and the CAW in 18 months and includes cuts to benefits, a reduction in vacation, break times and co-pays on health care, all of which were pattern items from the agreements with Chrysler and General Motors, the union said.

Wages were fully defended and pensions were fully protected, the union said.

Negotiations weren't able to savethe St. Thomas assembly plant, which will closein 2011 andeliminate 1,400 jobs in the already hard-hit community, the union said.

Allerton Firth blamed the decision to close the planton "the unfortunate reality of today's global auto industry," saying demand for large cars like those made at the plant has dropped significantly.

"We will do our best to support our employees through this difficult time," she said.

The new agreement expires on Sept. 17, 2012, and covers about 7,000 Ford workers, the union said.