Canadian TRW strike wins better pay, benefits

After six days on the picket line, 175 members of Local 444, Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), ended their strike against auto-parts maker TRW on March 4. Their plant in Windsor, Ontario, makes suspension frames for the Chrysler minivan, also built in Windsor.

That they could shut down a Chrysler assembly plant in a matter of hours gave them tremendous leverage.

At issue had been TRW’s refusal to increase workers’ pay above the $11.25 (Canadian) an hour wage in effect before the shop was unionized. Now the workers will get $15 an hour, which will rise to $17 an hour by 2011. Their pay raise is retroactive back to Sept. 30, 2007.

Health care and insurance benefits have also been improved.

The $15 an hour is still well below what CAW members make at Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. Workers were justifiably outraged that TRW, a huge multinational corporation with extensive contracts with automobile and aerospace firms, would insist on keeping wages so low. Some workers said that, before the strike, they had to get help from food banks.

A number of Canadian parts plants—including all those of Magna International, a major Chrysler supplier that at one time considered buying the automaker—recently came under the umbrella of the CAW. The arrangement was complex and controversial, involving not only the parts companies but the Big Three automakers, and led some CAW militants to charge CAW President Buzz Hargrove with setting up sweetheart agreements.

Nevertheless, Hargrove reportedly leaned heavily on Chrysler to force TRW to give in to the workers’ demands. An upbeat Local 444 news release announced that the local would now focus on getting better pay and benefits at other workplaces that supply the Chrysler Windsor Assembly Plant. HBPO, Dakkota and Oakley were mentioned.

In a speech, Local 444 President Ken Lewenza added: “We don’t want another work stoppage. But we’re not going to accept less [at other supplier plants]. Hopefully, the struggle of the last four or five days will help us get through any future struggles.”

Lewenza also warned employers not to bring in scabs, which TRW was rumored to be planning to do, and urged the government to pass anti-scab legislation. “This could have been another crisis in the community,” he said. “This could have been another dangerous situation. ... I say to the Liberal government: Wake up, man.”

Lewenza further charged Chrysler management with trying to create division between Chrysler and TRW members of Local 444 by denying contractual unemployment pay to Chrysler workers displaced by the TRW strike. In fact, many Chrysler workers walked the picket line in solidarity.

Speaking for themselves, union members are jubilant over having won so much in their first union contract. “I stayed strong. I told everyone to stay strong no matter what,” said 19-year-old Brian Dufour. “It’s exactly what we need.”

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