The Globe and Mail

The Canadian Auto Workers union has put its official stamp of approval on the breakthrough agreement that gives it access to thousands of potential new members at long-time antagonist Magna International Inc.

The deal was ratified Friday after several hours of debate among delegates to the union's annual convention in Toronto.

The agreement between Magna and the CAW was reached earlier this year and will permit the union to try organize workers at the company's plants in Ontario with no interference from management.

The key features that have created dissension in the ranks of Canada's largest private-sector union are that disputes will go to binding arbitration instead of workers going out on strike, there will be no shop stewards in Magna plants and the selection of union representatives, which are called employee advocates, are not made solely by union members.

Buzz Hargrove and other senior CAW officials lauded the deal Friday as an innovative breakthrough at a workplace they have been trying to organize for decades.

"This is about Magna and a way to protect our union as we move forward in very tough times," said Tim Carrie, president of local 27 in London, Ont., which represents workers at several auto parts factories.

But the clause in the agreement that there will be no strikes at Magna plants the CAW has organized led to opposition at some big CAW locals. Those include the biggest CAW local in the country, number 222, which represents workers at General Motors of Canada Ltd. assembly plants in Oshawa, Ont., as well as thousands of workers at parts plants in the area east of Toronto.

Local 88, which includes workers at the Cami Automotive Inc. assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., passed a resolution condemning the Framework of Fairness. Other locals opposing the deal include local 112 in Toronto, which represents workers at the Bombardier Inc. aircraft plant in that city, as well several other workplaces.

"Without the leverage the right to strike provides, what other tools do workers have to back up their demands at the bargaining table to improve wages and working conditions?" asks a leaflet distributed by workers from local 112 at the convention. "The right to strike is central to the collective bargaining process and must never be given up."

Chris Buckley, president of local 222, echoed that view.

Given the cutbacks at parts makers and the plants operated in Canada by the Detroit Three auto makers, "we should focus all of our attention on our current membership," he said.

But the Magna workers need a union and if the Framework of Fairness is the only way that goal can be achieved, then it makes sense, argued Marg Arnone, a retired health care worker from local 229 in Thunder Bay, Ont.