Auto parts workers in London area want to change how they bargain for wages, benefits and working conditions.

Unifor, the union representing about 4,000 parts workers in Southwestern Ontario, wants to bring workers at different manufacturing plants more in line with each other, meaning there will be more consistent collective agreements across the board, Fergo Berto, London director for Unifor, said Thursday.

“We’re trying to establish a standard irregardless of workplaces and different employers, a minimum standard as far as wages and benefits (go),” Berto said.

“We’re finding now that agreements for these plants are all over the map.”

But the parts sector is a fragmented, diverse sector with large global players such as Magna and much smaller shops, and common bargaining between them would pose a challenge, said Jason Bates, manager of the London Manufacturing Council that has parts plants as members.

“You cannot have cookie-cutter style bargaining for these plants. Some are much smaller than others, every plant is different,” he said.

“You can’t bargain the same deal with Martinrea that you would with small private shop with 50 people. This will be a challenge.”

Unifor has established an auto parts task force, part of the larger independent parts suppliers group, that will meet late this month or early next to begin hammering out a strategy. It will likely start with sharing details about wages, benefits and contract language and establishing bargaining positions for upcoming talks.

A key goal is to establish a uniform “progression period,” the time it takes a new hire to move to the top rate, Berto said.

“It’s a big issue. At some places it takes three years, at others, as long as seven.”

The task force is made up of 14 Unifor locals throughout Southwestern Ontario and eight Unifor staff.

The union recently issued a report that details the challenges in the auto parts sector.

Now, locals often find themselves bargaining against one another, “undercutting” other union plants, and that has to stop, said Jim Reid, president of Local 27 in London that represents several parts makers.

“We need a comprehensive bargaining strategy, a survival strategy. Now a lot of time we’re bidding against one another for work.”

The strategy is not unlike pattern bargaining in talks with Ford, GM and Chrysler when the union has one template it bargains with all automakers.

“That’s the goal, to set a benchmark. The employers’ argument has been the same since 2008, they have to be competitive, but we are looking at overall compensation,” Reid said.

He points to London parts makers such as Accuride and Autoneum as local success stories. Accuride was slated to close but Unifor helped save the plant on Firestone Blvd. that makes steel wheels with a concessionary contract. Autoneum is booming with more than 250 workers at a Huron St. plant that makes carpet systems.

Bates hopes the new bargaining strategy for parts makers doesn’t thrust labour and manufacturers into confrontations as conflicts have lessened in recent years.

“Adversarial relationships don’t work, they have to work together. The relationship now is much better that it has been in recent years.”

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Auto parts sector

17,000 unionized auto parts workers

4,000 in London and area

4,100 in GTA

4,200 in Windsor region

1,200 in Chatham-Kent

1,100 in Kitchener-Waterloo

120 collective agreements

79 employers

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Average wage, benefits

$23.19 an hour

85% have a pension

More than 92% have dental, life insurance and drug plans and more than 88% have vision care

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Canadian auto production