A strike at Johnson Controls has many companies around Ontario and Michigan (namely Chrysler) worried that their production could halt as a result of the Johnson strike:
Auto parts strike would affect thousands
A potential strike at an automotive parts plant in Lakeshore, Ont., has put the region’s auto community on edge.
Officials and workers at Johnson Controls have been in talks over a new contract since Monday, but workers say they’ll walk off the job if they don’t reach a collective agreement by midnight Friday.
If Johnson’s 120 workers strike, thousands of workers at Chrysler’s Windsor assembly plant and other parts suppliers could be affected.
Johnson Controls builds overhead components, or headliners, for the Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town and Country minivans. Headliners involve wiring in the roof of vehicles and are installed in the earliest stages of assembly.
Without them, the Chrysler assembly plant would have to shut down in about three hours, forcing more than 4,500 plant workers off the job, according to Dino Chiodo, the first vice-president of Canadian Auto Workers Local 444, which represents the Johnson workers.
That, in turn, would mean no business for the hundreds of workers at other parts suppliers.
Even car dealers worry about what a strike at Johnson Controls would do for business.
“Hopefully, we have the vehicle in stock for you today,” said Rick McKinney, a salesman at Pinnacle Chrysler, which sells new and used vehicles on Windsor’s east side.
“Unfortunately, if we have to order it, I can’t tell you when you’re going to get it,” he said. “It has an effect on not just us, but the whole Windsor in its entirety.”
While Chiodo is sympathetic to the concerns of people like McKinney, his priority is looking out “for the best interest of our members.”
“If I can get an agreement now, I would love to,” Chiodo said. “It would make it a little easier for everybody and take the tension out of the air.” Workers “remain cautiously optimistic” that a strike will be averted, he added.
The two sides bargained until 9 p.m. Thursday night and were back to the table at by 7 a.m. on Friday, Chiodo told CBC News. At issue is job security. Johnson Controls’ 2009 fourth-quarter sales dropped 15 per cent, from $9.3 billion US in 2008 to $7.9 billion in 2009, forcing the company to find new ways to cut costs.
Tags: Strike, CAW, Canadian Auto Workers, windsor, detroit, chrysler, johnson controls
