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Pushing and pulling, shoving and tugging levers and triggers, buttons and cables 40 hours a week can be mentally and physically draining.

That’s why Gord McPhee, a GM assembly line worker, relishes every minute of vacation time he’s racked up after 27 years on the job.

To lose another week of it is a blow, he said yesterday, after learning the terms of the new tentative agreement between GM and the Canadian Auto Workers union.

"But if it means we get to keep our jobs, I’m happy with it," McPhee, 44, said. "Everyone’s willing to negotiate. Everybody’s willing to give up something like that."

Christmas will be tough this year without the $1,700 bonus GM workers are used to getting but, McPhee said, it’s an easy sacrifice if it means retired workers can keep their health benefits.

"It’s going to a good cause," he said. "We’re not really losing it."

Solidarity with GM brethren were pervasive in Oshawa yesterday, a city under threat of collapse if local auto operations shut down.

After days of round-the-clock negotiations, the CAW and General Motors reached a successful end to collective bargaining. However, roughly 10,000 CAW members must approve the deal. They vote tomorrow.

The new contract is tough but fair in these harsh economic times, many said. They’re pleased base wages are frozen and there are no cuts – for the time being.

They’ll survive without cost-of-living adjustments, employees said no fax payday loan. They’ll make do without another 40 hours of paid vacation, in addition to the 40 hours they already lost earlier this year.

And just to keep getting his health benefits, John Hale, 54, is prepared to pay an extra $30 a month out of pocket. For those older than 65, premiums will rise by $15 a month.

"It’s better than GM going bankrupt," he said. "Not much we can do about any of this."

Hale, a 30-year GM veteran, took a voluntary buyout package last year "to keep the younger generation working." He’d rather still be on the job making $83,000 instead of the $23,000 he now gets annually. But there are others who need the cash more, he said.

The U.S. financial mess is what brought on this mess, he said, echoing CAW president Ken Lewenza’s remarks earlier yesterday.

"This has nothing to do with the average worker," Hale said as he snacked at the Oshawa Centre food court. "Leave the GM worker alone."

The mall teemed yesterday with GM employees past and present.

Andrew Stevens was laid off in January after 25 years when GM won the right to contract out his job as a millwright trainer.

But he doesn’t begrudge GM. "They always treated me well. Layoffs are just the reality of working in the auto industry these days."

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