MONTREAL (AFP)--Eleventh-hour negotiations between General
Motors (GM) and auto workers in Canada hit a snag Sunday, labor
officials said.
"We don't have an agreement right now. But there is a
disagreement between GM Canada and the CAW, and the federal
government," said Shannon Devine, a spokeswoman for the Canadian
Auto Workers.
She wasn't expecting an agreement imminently. "Definitely not
tonight (Sunday into Monday), Devine said.
Ottawa gave the ailing U.S. car company and the union until May
15 to renegotiate a labor contract deemed critical to GM's
survival, or risk losing a bailout of up to three billion Canadian
dollars (US$2.5 billion).
"We're still working on it, but it could take a couple more days
because of these latest complications," Devine said.
CAW President Ken Lewenza said in a statement earlier that talks
would proceed Sunday after "progress" was made on important points,
although many issues remained "unresolved."
"Our CAW negotiating team continues to work hard to reach an
agreement with General Motors," Lewenza said in the statement late
Saturday, one day after the deadline for agreement set by the
Canadian government.
"We will continue our talks as we work towards reaching a
tentative agreement that we can bring back to our membership for
ratification," he said.
"We have made some progress, however, there are a number of key
issues that remain unresolved at this point."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said earlier a taxpayer-funded
bailout "is dependent upon all of the stakeholders making the
difficult decisions necessary to ensure the viability of the
company."
But as recently as Friday, Lewenza called GM's demands for deep
labor cost cuts "overzealous" and insisted there was "no way" the
union would make the wide-ranging concessions proposed by the
company.