The recently completed negotiations between General Motors and the Canadian Auto Workers union will save the automaker nearly a billion dollars in reduced labor costs. Automotive News reports:
 

General Motors of Canada will save nearly C$1 billion ($819.1 million) on future labor costs as a result of union concessions it won earlier in March, the company said in a letter obtained by Reuters.

The deal with the Canadian Auto Workers union also closes the “per hour” active worker cost gap to the company’s non-union competition in the United States based on current exchange rates, GM said. The letter, from GM Canada President Arturo Elias, was sent to a Canadian parliamentary sub-committee looking at the automotive industry and dated March 20.

The cost-saving concessions include a freeze on cost of living wage increases and a freeze on pension benefits.