Plant workers launch Save GM Oshawa campaign

Save GM Oshawa signs also showing up in Peterborough

OSHAWA — General Motors workers are staging a week-long series of Save GM Oshawa public demonstrations after last month’s announcement that vehicle production at the assembly plant will cease by the end of 2019.

Roughly 50 workers waved union flags and Save GM Oshawa signs at one of Oshawa’s busiest intersections on Tuesday at the Ritson Road entrance to the Costco plaza.

Save GM Oshawa signs have also been posted in some parts of Peterborough.

Greg Moffat, Unifor Local 222 plant chairman, said other protests are being held at the Oshawa Centre mall, the Walmart plaza on Harmony Road North, the Albert Street bridge over Highway 401 and the Oshawa GO station.

“We’re going to continue to press General Motors until they reverse their decision,” Moffat said.

“We’re getting a lot of positive response. I don’t believe for one second that when General Motors got bailed out by the Canadians in 2008 and 2009 (that) Canadians thought General Motors would do this to Canadian workers and Canadian taxpayers.”

Moffat said the message will be taken coast-to-coast with plans to ramp up the campaign in the new year.

“The workers feel betrayed, to be quite frank, we’ve done everything General Motors asked us to do as far as quality and productivity and we’re not giving up, we’re not going away without a fight and in fact we’re not going away.”

Billy Kudla is the human rights chairman for Unifor Local 222 and an electrician who has worked for GM for 33 years.

“We’re hoping to show the community how important we all are financially to all the businesses in the community,” he said. “I’ve been around today — I’m off this week — so I’ve been around to a lot of businesses handing out our signs to put in their windows to show support and everyone’s been receptive except for banks.”

“It will be a groundswell thing where we get people to put signs on their lawns and in their windows and to talk to their neighbours about the importance of General Motors,” Kudla said.