CanPol(?) - CAW doesn't see the train coming

[Asher]

In all likelihood, no.

[Asher]

FWIW, I'm insured at a million bucks. I have been since I've graduated from university, and I've never paid a dime for it.

Also, never while part of a union...

All kinds of awesome non-union perks. Matching RRSPs, employee stock purchase plans, long-term disability, health spending account, employee pension plan, etc. The benefits are out there. In my field, they're standard.

[DanS]

I have the sense that life insurance as a benefit for line workers is common, if not standard. I'm insured through my employer for $100,000.

None of the "non-traditional" benefits are given routinely around these parts.

[Ben Kenobi]

In all likelihood, no.

I think your experience is unusual, Asher.

[chequita guevara]

Asher's experience is not at all uncommon in the IT and financial sector.

[Asher]

I forgot the most important perks at all: Free, legal software from all kinds of vendors, like Microsoft.

[Arrian]

I get a base amount of life insurance for free, and pay a small amount for more.
No massages
We have a prescription drug benifit. I tend to pay $5-$15 for a prescription.

Our benifits, compared to other similar companies (large finance/insurance cos), have always struck me as ok but not great. Not that I've done a study of it.

-Arrian

[Wezil]

Our local car plant (Toyota) is doing well.

Toyota Woodstock Revs Up RAV-4 Production
A freeze on overtime has been lifted at the Toyota plant in Woodstock thanks to improved sales of the RAV-4 sport utility vehicle.

In February, the automaker cut overtime in addition to laying off temporary workers and freezing wages and some benefits.

But RAV-4 sales in Canada are up 24 per cent in the first three months of this year over the same period in 2008.

In the United States, RAV-4 sales are down eight per cent so far this year, but that's an improvement over the 23 per cent plunge recorded for the same period last year compared to 2007.

Toyota has sold more than 35,000 vehicles in Canada so far this year and has sold about 360,000 in the U.S.

In order to meet growing demand, says company official Pat Clement, nine-hour shifts will return to the plant starting in May.

http://www.am980.ca/home/News/GeneralNewsDetail/tabid/967/Default.aspx?id=7242

[Ben Kenobi]

Asher's experience is not at all uncommon in the IT and financial sector.

But outside of it?

I work for myself so I don't really count.

[Garth Vader]

But outside of it?

I work for myself so I don't really count.

The two places I have worked we have similar benefits. They are engineering companies so everybody from engineers to laborers in the machine shop get the same benefits.

Now the employer doesn't pay for all the benefits, I pay about half for the Eye/Dental/Drugs/insurance. I think you have to pay all your STD/LTD insurance so that if you need it the money is not taxable. But then the employer pays a bigger share of the medical stuff.

We get matching RRSP contributions as well (up to a certain amount)

[Wezil]

The CAW blinked.

The Canadian Auto Workers union has surrendered years of hard-won gains to keep the operations of Chrysler Canada Inc. from being liquidated in a likely bankruptcy protection filing by the troubled auto maker.

The groundbreaking concessions came after four days of tense, multiparty negotiations that involved the federal and Ontario governments and Italian auto maker Fiat SpA, would-be saviour of Chrysler LLC.

The concessions, including cuts to health-care coverage, vacations, bonuses, incentives to buy Chrysler vehicles and other benefits, met the company's target of reducing labour costs by $19 an hour, CAW president Ken Lewenza said last night at a news conference at a Toronto hotel.

The alternative the company presented to the union was that its three Canadian manufacturing plants would be hived off into the portion of Chrysler LLC assets that will be liquidated if there is a bankruptcy filing, Mr. Lewenza said. Chrysler LLC is expected to seek protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code next week.

"I think it's a victory, considering what we've been through and considering the alternative and the consequences that were ahead of us if we didn't get a deal," Mr. Lewenza told reporters.

The company told the union that the agreement could help stave off bankruptcy protection of Chrysler Canada when a new restructuring plan is submitted to the federal and Ontario governments next week.

The union gave up benefits, but preserved base wages and pensions.

It also agreed to participate in a trust fund to manage Chrysler Canada's health-care costs, the first such fund of its kind in Canada.

Negotiations over creating that fund delayed the agreement by a full day, union officials said last night.

The union endured "the most tortuous and unfair process anyone can imagine," Mr. Lewenza said, while blasting governments and the company for "ganging up" on auto workers.

"Most importantly, we are living to fight another day," he added.

The deal on its own won't keep Chrysler Canada out of bankruptcy protection. The two governments are insisting that Chrysler Canada's parent company reach a deal with Fiat that will preserve large parts of the U.S. operations of the third-largest Detroit auto maker.

In addition, a tax dispute between Chrysler Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency dating back to when the company was part of DaimlerChrysler AG is also a sticking point in any Canadian deal to provide Chrysler Canada with more money.

Chrysler LLC co-vice-chairman Tom LaSorda said last month the firm would shut its operations here if it didn't get a union deal that reduced costs and a letter from Ottawa saying Chrysler wouldn't have to put up any more cash collateral in the tax dispute.

There has been "work on that front" a federal official said of the tax dispute, but Canada Revenue would not provide such a blanket assurance.

But the CAW deal does meet a key demand of the two governments, which are keeping the company alive with a loan of $1-billion. The Canadian governments now require that Chrysler LLC complete an alliance with Italian auto maker Fiat SpA before offering additional loans aimed at financing the company's move to profitability.

The union surrendered major concessions on benefits, including many — such as cutting Christmas bonuses — that were given up in a GM deal six weeks ago. In addition, the employee car purchase plan and the tuition rebate process were cut, effective January, 2010, as was semi-private hospital coverage. Paid breaks were reduced to 40 minutes a day. The third shift at the Windsor assembly plant will be eliminated in August.

Mr. Lewenza called on U.S. auto negotiators to get a deal done and "suck up your greed and make a deal to avoid going into Chapter 11 [bankruptcy]."

With heavy pressure from the Obama administration, Chrysler and the United Auto Workers in the United States are reportedly close to a deal that would pave the way for an orderly bankruptcy filing there.

Mr. Lewenza said the new deal will be guaranteed if Chrysler LLC files for bankruptcy or merges with Fiat.

"So the Canadian plants will survive, even if Chapter 11 is inevitable," he said. "We will work with Fiat if, in fact, the merger becomes a reality, which we hope it does."

Federal and Ontario officials said they are increasingly hopeful that Chrysler could avoid a bankruptcy filing in Canada, even if the parent company seeks court-protection to deal with U.S. creditors.

http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090424.wchryslerdeal0424/BNStory/Business/home