Deadline Nears in Fiat Chrysler's Canadian Labor Talks

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV's contract negotiations with hourly workers in Canada are at risk of extending past a midnight strike deadline as the Italian-U.S. auto maker resists matching costly wage increases secured in a General Motors Co. deal signed last month, according to the union's leader.

Unifor President Jerry Dias said in an interview Monday that, after several weeks of dedicated talks, Fiat Chrysler is resisting following the pattern set in Unifor's contract with GM. Mr. Dias, who runs Canada's largest private-sector union, said he met with Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne on Saturday but failed to secure future product commitments during that meeting.

Fiat Chrysler is the No. 2 producer and seller of light vehicles in Canada. A spokeswoman for the company declined to comment.

The auto maker's four-year contract covering 9,750 hourly workers expired Sept. 19, and Unifor set a deadline that expires Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET for a replacement deal.

Canada is among the most expensive countries in the world to build cars and the highest-cost market for car assembly in North America. Unifor is bargaining for new labor deals that will help protect Canada's auto-manufacturing sector amid a surge in new factory investment flowing south to Mexico, where labor costs are cheaper.

Mr. Dias reached a deal with GM after negotiations that ran slightly past a deadline in September. The union won new factory investment at its Canadian plants and put new hires on a faster track to getting pay increases.

With hours to go before a strike could be initiated against Fiat Chrysler, Mr. Dias said "we're not flexible in the pattern." Canadian labor officials and the United Auto Workers in the U.S. have followed pattern bargaining with Chrysler, GM and Ford Motor Co. for several decades.

While auto makers have individual issues to negotiate related to products or specifics facilities, they generally have agreed to follow the course set by the first "target" company selected by the union.

Mr. Dias said Ford bargainers also are pushing back about the wage gains granted in the GM deal, arguing more immediate raises for new hires at the company's Oakville Assembly plant will undo the business case for investing in the facility.

Ford negotiations will likely begin after Fiat Chrysler talks conclude. However, union officials have in the past suspended talks with one auto maker and returned to them later when a deal proved hard to hammer out.

Mr. Dias said if a tentative deal with Fiat Chrysler can't be reached by the Monday deadline, Unifor's Fiat Chrysler members will head out on strike, stopping production at the company's two assembly plants in Ontario.

Those factories build high-profile models such as the Chrysler Pacifica minivan, which was recently redesigned and attracted critical acclaim when it went on sale earlier this year.

Ford declined to comment directly on Mr. Dias's remarks.

"We will work collaboratively with Unifor to negotiate a globally competitive collective agreement," the company said in a statement.

Write to Christina Rogers at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 10, 2016 14:25 ET (18:25 GMT)

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