TORONTO - The CAW has reached a tentative agreement with Bombardier Aerospace covering the nearly 3,000 workers at the company's Toronto facility.

"This was a tough round of negotiations, but we were able to reach a good collective agreement that will both make improvements and protect our members' historic gains," said CAW President Ken Lewenza.

"We were under a lot of pressure to make concessions, but were able to resist these demands, recognizing that they would have ultimately been damaging to the past and current workers," said Merv Gray, CAW Local 112 Bombardier plant chairperson. "We're happy with the agreement we negotiated on behalf of our members, especially in light of the current economic challenges."

"We're pleased that we were able to preserve retiree benefits, which were under threat in this round of negotiations, as well as making a number of other improvements for our current members," said Gus Goncalves, CAW Local 673 office unit chair person.

The ratification meeting will be held on Sunday, June 28, 2009 in the morning and the results will be released later that day on CNW (Canada News Wire).