The union's first Canadian unions were chartered in 1881, making the union truly international.

The Canadian union has yet to open talks with Ford.

The Ford agreement is the first reached by the Canadian union in its 2005 negotiations.

The Canadian union has planned ratification meetings over the weekend for the 10,000 workers involved in the strike.

The Canadian union also tends to hold short strikes every three years before reaching contracts, often against the first company with which negotiations are held.

The Canadian union has a history of conducting short strikes of less than a week before reaching deals.

Robert White, the head of the Canadian union, has said that he hoped the two organizations could meet to coordinate bargaining.

The Canadian union has $60 million in its strike fund, which would support workers in the event of a strike.

If both unions negotiated with the same auto maker at the same time, the smaller Canadian union might be ignored.

The Canadian Auto Workers union walked off the job at the strike deadline yesterday morning.