GM move will cost 1,000 jobs: CAW
Camaro production heads to Michigan
The Canadian Auto Workers says a decis i on by General Motors to move production of its next-generation Camaro from Oshawa, Ont., to Michigan could potentially lead to the loss of thousands of jobs from the assembly plant and its suppliers.
Ken Lewenza, CAW president, said there was no earlier indication the Camaro work was at risk in Canada and he only was notified of the decision Wednesday morning as GM made its announcement.
“I’m still shocked,” he said during a news conference in Oshawa, where he urged the federal and provincial government to pressure GM to reverse its decision.
General Motors of Canada Ltd. said it will shift assembly of the Camaro to its Lansing Green River plant in Michigan when the life cycle of the current model ends as part of an effort to consolidate its rear-wheel drive vehicle production alongside the Cadillac ATS and CTS.
Faye Roberts, GM Canada spokeswoman, said it was too early to say what impact the decision would have on employment at the flex line on which the Camaro is built, which now employs about 2,000 workers. But she noted that GM had recently committed to adding a third shift on the line early next year for the new Chevrolet Impala.
Nor could Roberts say when production would be shifted to Michigan, given that GM has yet to announce when the new Camaro would go into production. “It’s too early to accurately predict what any employment impact would be and so, at this stage, we can’t give any speculative answers,” she said.
Lewenza said the Camaro accounts for roughly 25 per cent to 30 per cent of the production at the plant, or about 100,000 units a year. By his estimate, about 1,000 jobs would be affected in late 2015 or early 2016 by the decision to move production. For every GM job cut, he said another nine at its suppliers would be lost.
“When you take 25 per cent to 30 per cent of the production out of the facility without a decision to replace it, that means 25 per cent to 30 per cent of our existing membership can lose their jobs,” he said. “It’s simple mathematics.”
He called on GM to reverse its decision, or match on a oneto-one basis the lost production in Oshawa.
He also said he reached out to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office and spoke directly to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to urge them to adopt a national auto strategy akin to Germany, Brazil or South Korea, to protect future auto job losses.
Industry Minister Christian Paradis said the federal government is “concerned about the implications of this announcement on the men and women whose livelihoods depend on General Motors.
“Taxpayers of Canada made a substantial investment to keep General Motors competitive and we will hold General Motors to the commitments they made in return for that investment,” Paradis said.
“It is up to General Motors to provide Canadians with an explanation for their decision today, and I expect them to do so.”
Chris Buckley, president of CAW Local 222, said GM Canada gave no indication during the most recent round of bargaining this fall that the Camaro work was at risk. Had GM even raised the possibility, he said the CAW would have “rolled up its sleeves” to find out what could be done to protect those jobs.
“General Motors just recently signed a new collective agreement agreeing that we remain competitive. Agreeing that our costs were in line with the competition,” he said.
“This is nothing short of a disgusting decision on behalf of General Motors and an act of betrayal. We’re not going to sit idly by.”
For its part, GM Canada gave no indication that the decision was based on the cost of producing vehicles in Canada relative to costs in the U.S.
“The key factors in this business case were lower capital investment and improved production efficiencies,” Roberts said. “The Camaro’s the only rear-wheel drive vehicle we currently build in Oshawa.”