TORONTO - Workers need to be ready to shut down the Canadian operations of the Big 3 Detroit automakers if a deal can't be reached at the bargaining table, the Canadian Auto Workers' union told its members Wednesday.

"It is our hope and intention to reach an agreement with at least one of the three companies before the deadline," the union said in a news release.

"We must be prepared though to shut down operations at all three, should we be unable to reach an agreement."

The strike deadline is Sept. 17 at 11:59 p.m.

The union said it's not immediately announcing a strike target for this round of negotiations with General Motors, Chrysler and Ford.

"This set of negotiations, the CAW is attempting a different approach by not immediately announcing a target company, with the goal of moving negotiations along with all three," the union said.

But the auto workers' union added the Big 3 automakers aren't serious about reaching a deal and want to cut costs from existing agreements.

"The corporations have been uniformly clear — anything that adds cost will have to be paid for by savings elsewhere in the agreement," the CAW said.

Hourly workers at Chrysler, General Motors and Ford plants in Canada have voted overwhelmingly to go on strike to back their contract demands.

The CAW said local unions across the three auto companies are being asked to form strike committees and start preparations for a strike.

The Canadian Auto Workers' union has said Chrysler workers have voted 99 per cent in favour of strike action if necessary. The vote was almost as strong at General Motors, where 98 per cent backed strike action, and at Ford, where the vote was 97 per cent.

The union is looking to share in improving financial position of the three automakers after making concessions during the recession.

However, the automakers are looking to pare costs labour costs in Canada, which they say are higher than in the United States.

The last CAW strike was in 1996, against General Motors.

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• Labour Day: A Canadian Invention

  Few Canadians realize it, but Labour Day is as Canadian as maple bacon. It all began in 1872, when the Toronto Typographical Union went on strike to demand a nine-hour workday. When <i>Globe and Mail</i> chief George Brown had the protest organizers arrested, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald passed a law legalizing labour unions. Thus, a Conservative prime minister became a hero to the working class, and Canada became among the first countries to limit the workday, doing so decades before the U.S. The typographers' marches became an annual event, eventually being adopted by the U.S., becoming the modern day Labour Day.

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• Bloody Sunday

  In May, 1938, unemployed men led by communist organizers occupied a post office and art gallery in downtown Vancouver, protesting over poor work conditions at government-run Depression-era "relief camps." In June, the RCMP moved in to clear out the occupiers, using tear gas inside the post office. The protesters inside smashed windows for air and armed themselves with whatever was available. Forty-two people, including five officers, were injured. When word spread of the evacuation, sympathizers marched through the city's East End, smashing store windows. Further protests against "police terror" would be held in the weeks to come.

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• The Toronto G20

  The Canadian Labour Congress, representing numerous labour groups, participated in protests in Toronto during the G20 summit in June, 2010. When a handful of "Black Block" anarchists rioted through the city core, it brought an overwhelming police response that resulted in the largest mass arrests in Canadian history. More than 1,000 people were arrested, with most never charged with any crime. Numerous allegations of police brutality have been made, and the Toronto police are now the target of several multi-million dollar lawsuits. So far, two police officers have been charged with crimes relating to G20 policing, and charges against other police officers are also possible.

• Occupy Canada

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