(Adds quotes from Ford spokesman in paragraphs 5 and 16)
By Scott Anderson
TORONTO, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Ford of Canada will be target No. 2 for the Canadian Auto Workers in contract talks with the country's Big Three automakers, the union said on Monday, but the process is expected to be much rougher than it was with General Motors Canada , the first target.
Union members ratified a new three-year agreement with GM by a 72 percent margin in a vote on Sunday.
The CAW now turns its attention solely to Ford in hopes of reaching a deal before a strike deadline set for midnight on Oct. 1.
It wants a deal similar to the one it got with GM. But GM is in considerably better financial shape than Ford, which has acknowledged that a strike in Canada would cripple its North American operations.
"There is absolutely no doubt that any work interruption here would have serious implications right across our North American operations," said John Jelinek, Ford Canada's vice-president of public affairs.
The GM deal with the CAW gives the company's 19,000 hourly workers a 3 percent wage increase in each year of first two years of the contract and a 2 percent hike in the third year; a C$1,000 ($633.00) signing bonus; 36 hours in additional paid time off and improved health care benefits.
The CAW also got GM to commit to hundreds of millions of dollars of new investment in Canada.
The union knows full well a strike at Ford Canada would have a devastating effect on the company as a whole. Its Windsor, Ontario, engine plant, for instance, manufactures a large proportion of the engines for assembly plants across the continent. Another plant is the world-wide producer of the popular Windstar mini-van.
The key issue in the negotiations is the union's opposition to Ford's planned closing of its Ontario Truck Plant in Oakville, Ontario, slated for late 2003 or 2004. The union has vowed to fight aggressively to keep the plant open.
CAW union leader Buzz Hargrove vowed that there would be a strike if that issue is not resolved.
"I have said it before and I will say it one more time, we have enough power with Ford to commit suicide," he told reporters on Monday.
"The challenge for us is not to take that power and just shut Ford down, but to use that bargaining power that we have to try to extract a sincere contract out of Ford that will protect our members' jobs in Oakville and we're going to the bargaining table with that in mind."
Hargrove also called on the provincial and federal governments to step up to the plate and realize the importance of protecting jobs at the plant.
This round of contract talks in Canada is under the microscope because it is being held a year earlier than negotiations between the United Auto Workers and the carmakers in the United States.
Only in 1993 and 1999 were Canadian automaker contract negotiations settled without strikes. In 1999, Ford was the pattern-setting company.
"Obviously we have a lot of work to do in a very short period of time to do it in. We welcome the opportunity," Jelinek said.
($1=$1.58 Canadian)