CAW and DCX face off in contract negotiations

The CAW's negotiations with Ford might have gone smoothly (as far as 10% cuts in headcount can go), but the Canadian union's talks with DCX have hit a snag. If no deal is reached by next Tuesday, the union is threatening a strike. At stake here are about 2,500 jobs - over 20% of DCX's unionized workers in Canada - that the automaker wants to eliminate. The 1,000 workers recently added to the Brampton plant that assembles the 300C, Magnum, and Charger would not completely offset those cuts. There's also conflict over DCX's desire to introduce the kaizen continuous-improvement process. Although the union isn't saying it directly, there seems to be a concern that additional efficiency would be found that would cause a further loss of jobs.