TORONTO - Canadian Auto Workers members have ratified a new collective agreement with Chrysler, wrapping up its 2008 round of negotiations with the Big Three.

Chrysler workers voted 87 per cent in favour of the deal Saturday, highest approval margin among the three companies.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) workers voted 84 per cent in favour of the deal in balloting Friday and Saturday, while Ford (NYSE:F) workers ratified the deal by 67 per cent on Thursday.

The Chrysler agreement includes product commitments at the Brampton plant for the launch of the new C-series vehicles in 2010 and confirms that the Windsor plant will continue to be the lead producer of minivans in North America.

Chrysler also agreed to keep the Etobicoke Casting plant open until June 2011, with the intention of selling the plant or making it into a joint venture.

Earlier in the day, the CAW announced that the last of four GM plants - the one in Woodstock - had ratified the deal, after workers in Oshawa, Windsor and St. Catharines had given it their approval on Friday.

CAW president Buzz Hargrove said the strong approval rating is further evidence that the union did the right thing in negotiating an early settlement.

"I have no doubt in my mind that going into early bargaining with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler was the best thing for our members," Hargrove said in a release. "With the new product commitments contained in the agreement, our members will be better equipped to weather the economic storm currently devastating the auto industry."

The agreement includes cost-of-living wage adjustments in the second and third years of the agreement, benefit improvements and no two-tier wage structure.

The CAW represents approximately 8,000 workers at Chrysler.

Under the agreement reached with GM, a plant in Oshawa will begin building a new Camaro sports car, along with a rear-wheel drive car.

The contract also preserves one shift at the truck assembly factory in Oshawa until 2009.

The deals with the Big Three come as rising fuel prices and a high Canadian dollar continue to batter the domestic auto manufacturing industry.

Hargrove says CAW negotiators entered this round of bargaining "knowing the unprecedented economic and political challenges facing auto workers in Canada."

"Despite the odds being stacked against us, we were committed to reaching an agreement that would protect the important gains our union has made over the years. I'm pleased to say that we did that."

GM has recently announced massive layoffs and cuts across Ontario, including the closure of a Windsor transmission plant by mid-2010 affecting 1,400 workers.

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