General Motors’ hourly workers in Canada deserve bonuses after opening up their collective agreement on two occasions to help turn the automaker around after it entered bankruptcy protection two years ago, says the head of the Canadian Auto Workers.

Ken Lewenza said Tuesday that even though the union has never negotiated profit-sharing agreements in Canada, the company’s employees still deserve a share of the bonuses being paid out to hourly workers in the U.S. and salaried workers on both sides of the border.

“When GM was on the verge of bankruptcy, the company showed no hesitation in demanding our members give up past gains to ensure its survival,” said Lewenza in a statement. “Now that GM’s balance sheet in starting to improve, we expect that our members benefit from this recovery.”

Hourly workers in the U.S. will receive bonuses based on profit-sharing provisions that fall under their collective agreement with the automaker. However, Canadian auto workers, whose union has long resisted profit sharing, will not receive bonuses.

GM Canada spokesman Jason Easton told The Star’s Grace Macaluso Monday that “with respect to CAW workers, terms of employee compensation as set out in the current GM Canada/CAW Master Collective Agreement do not include a bonus payment scheme.”

Hourly workers in the U.S. are expected to receive payments averaging about $4,000 while salaried workers are expected to receive between four and 16 per cent of their regular annual pay.

The automaker ended its long history in Windsor late last year, but still has almost 9,000 employees in Oshawa, St. Catharines and Ingersoll.