Jobs in jeopardy at GM’s Oshawa plant

OSHAWA — More than 2,600 General Motors employees in Oshawa will be told Monday that as of December 2019, the company has not allocated any vehicles to the production line.

That gives provincial and federal governments and the union time to work with the automobile company on a plan to save some or all of the jobs at the plant that first began production in 1958 with the Pontiac Strato Chief, Parisienne and Laurentian models and followed with 25 other car lines including the Chevrolet Camaro. Currently, it produces the popular Chevrolet Equinox and three other vehicles.

News Sunday evening of a complete closure — forever — is wrong, according to Unifor, the union that represents workers on the line.

“We have been informed that, as of now, there is no product allocated to the Oshawa Assembly Plant past December 2019,” Unifor said in a statement from national president Jerry Dias.

The last contract negotiations between GM and the union were concluded in 2016. Unifor officials at the time lauded the contract with GM publicly for ensuring the sprawling plant would be in operation well past 2019.

Dias said that Unifor “does not accept this announcement and is immediately calling on GM to live up to the spirit of that agreement.” He said he has a scheduled meeting with GM Monday to sort out the plan going forward.

The General Motors plant in Oshawa has faced this issue before over the years. Sources close to the situation say that there will be negotiations between federal and provincial officials with General Motors as to the next steps in Oshawa.

“This does not mean Oshawa is closing,” said a source close to the discussions, speaking on background.

Speculation on Sunday among union and political sources revolved around whether the Oshawa plant would be affected by the recent announcement by General Motors in the U.S. to commit to a National Zero Emissions Vehicle Program, which it says could add more than 7 million electric cars to the road by 2030. No announcement has been made as to where those would be built.

Oshawa Mayor John Henry told The Canadian Press he hadn’t heard from the company.

General Motors made no comment Sunday regarding Oshawa or any of its other plants. A Canadian GM spokesperson, David Paterson, sent out a email saying “we have no news or comment tonight and won’t be commenting to others on speculation.”

A senior federal government official, speaking on background because the news was not publicly announced, told the Toronto Star’s Bruce Campion-Smith that the GM issue was “very devastating news.”

“We’re obviously very concerned with the reports and will be working very hard over the next few days to help the affected workers,” the official said, adding that it is believed that the decision is part of a broader restructuring that will touch GM operations across North America as GM seeks to move its vehicle lineup to more futuristic models, such a zero-emissions cars.

“It’s not only Canada. They are going to be focusing on future technology,” the official said.

He said the shakeup is not related to any of the trade tensions between Canada and the United States.