Union will keep up fight: GM worker

Company announces plans to assist workers

PONTYPOOL — Pontypool resident Karen Archer says Unifor, the union representing GM workers, is continuing the fight to keep the plant open and workers employed producing vehicles.

Her vow to fight on followed General Motors Canada's announcement on Friday that it would provide financial and retraining support for workers at its Oshawa plant who will be out of a job when vehicle production ceases after 2019.

Archer says the impact of the plant’s closing and subsequent job losses “reaches far beyond Durham Region.” She has worked at GM’s Oshawa plant since 2011. Her father worked there for 37 years and her husband is in his 34th year. Her daughter has also worked at the plant since 2015.

“I grew up in Janetville; everyone either worked for GM or Hydro,” she said in an interview on Friday. "It's been a huge part of our communities in Kawartha Lakes."

In a news update on its website General Motors Canada said it is committed to provide “financial support to help its employees with retraining and other assistance that will help them be prepared for more than 2,400 good, available new jobs estimated to be open in the Durham Region area in 2019 and 2020.”

“My priority is to have a transition plan for every Oshawa Assembly employee,” said GM Canada president and managing director Travis Hester. “We will work with our community colleges, universities, the government and all interested local employers, to make this happen. And we are committing millions of dollars from GM Canada to support this effort.”

The statement goes on to say GM Canada has been contacted by a variety of individual employers with job opportunities for the highly skilled employees at Oshawa Assembly. Job fairs and targeted training programs are being prepared by a coalition of local partners to help auto workers transition to their next careers. More details of specific support from GM Canada and others will be confirmed as the company works with Unifor and its partners.

The company says that since

the Nov. 26 closure announcement GM Canada and its community partners have identified:

• 300 open jobs for auto technicians at GM dealerships in Ontario;

• 100 jobs that will be open at GM’s other facilities in Ontario;

• 2,000 jobs in energy and other industries in Durham;

A one-stop, confidential portal will be launched in the new year by Durham College to help auto workers identify job openings, learn about new careers and begin training plans to ensure a smooth career transition. This will be followed by other on-line tools to assist auto workers.

GM Canada director of communications Jennifer Wright said the company will be providing roughly $5,000 to $10,000 per worker for retraining.

The company says more than 50 per cent of Oshawa Assembly's permanent hourly workers now qualify for a GM Canada defined benefit pension, providing them a choice to move to retirement.

GM announced its global Accelerated Transformation program on Nov. 26 “to advance the company’s vision of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion, through a series of restructuring actions in the United States, Canada and globally,” the website states.

As part of that transformation the company announced there won’t be any vehicles produced at its Oshawa plant beyond next year.

GM’s announcement impacts 2,600 hourly workers and approximately 340 salaried or contract workers at the Oshawa Assembly Plant, the website states.

Along with Oshawa, plants in Michigan and Ohio are also affected. GM Canada says it will continue to discuss its announcements regarding Oshawa Assembly with Unifor.

The company also stated it was making a 15 per cent cut to the number of salaried workers, including 25 per cent fewer executives, but it has not specified how many of those jobs would be in Canada.

Archer said she has seen no support from the provincial or federal governments so far.

“All I heard from (Ontario premier) Doug Ford was ‘that ship has sailed’, and not much from the federal Liberals, either,” she said.

“The only vehicle produced in Ingersoll (the CAMI assembly plant) is the (Chevrolet) Equinox,” she said. “If Oshawa closes, Ingersoll will too.”

Archer said one of the key issues is that GM vehicles (especially trucks) are built in Mexico where labour is cheaper.

“But, you don’t get the quality. We can build them here. Canada needs to put tariffs on vehicles built in Mexico.”

Archer said the Oshawa plant was one of only two plants in North America that achieved the coveted BIQS designation for build quality and the efficiency of its operation.

Archer said the workers “have done everything GM ever asked of us, plus” and that if the plant closes, “I will never buy anything from GM again.

“Since 2016, my family (members) have bought 10 new vehicles, all from Lindsay dealers. People need to understand this will impact people all over the Kawartha Lakes and Peterborough.”

This Week has reached out to plant chair Greg Moffat for additional comment.