General Motors, in addition to negotiations with the UAW in this country, have also been negotiating with the Canadian Autoworkers Union as well. Those negotiations have now completed with significant concessions that should pave the way for public funds from the government of Canada to flow to the automaker:
 

Canadian autoworkers will face a wage freeze through 2012, along with shorter vacations and higher contributions to benefit plans under a tentative deal with General Motors Canada, the Canadian Autoworkers Union said on Sunday.

The deal, seen as a pattern for pacts with other auto companies, aims to unlock billions of dollars in Canadian government funding for General Motors. Unionized workers will vote on the pact on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

“The alternatives are much worse,” CAW President Ken Lewenza told a news conference announcing the agreement, which was reached after round-the-clock negotiations with the company. “We’ve done what we can do as a union… Now the Canadian government has got to step up to the plate.”

In addition to the nearly $30 billion that GM is seeking from the US government, they’re also seeking about $10 billion from the government of Canada in order to survive lean economic times.