Union cries foul as GM axes Ontario plant jobs
Oshawa assembly line shutdown expected to affect 2,000 workers
The Detroit Three’s automotive footprint in Canada took a major hit Friday as General Motors confirmed plans to shut a three-shift assembly line in Oshawa.
The move is expected to wipe out 2,000 well-paying assembly jobs and put even more pressure on the Canadian Auto Workers union to cut labour costs as it heads into bargaining talks in the fall.
GM will phase in the closure over the next 12 months of Oshawa’s consolidated line, which will cease operations next June, said Adria MacKenzie, spokeswoman for GM Canada.
Affected workers assemble the Chevy Impala and spillover capacity of the popular Chevy Equinox from GM’s Ingersoll CAMI plant.
GM plans to shift spillover capacity of the next-generation Equinox to its plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., while assembly of the 2014 Impala will move to the automaker’s flexible manufacturing line in Oshawa, where 2,000 remaining workers also build the Chevy Camaro, Buick Regal and Cadillac XTS, said MacKenzie. The Impala also is produced at GM’s plant in Detroit-Hamtramck, Mich.
CAW Local 222 president Chris Buckley decried the move as “offensive” and called on the federal and provincial governments to intervene.
“Our members, both active and retired, made huge sacrifices to help save this company during the auto crisis,” said Buckley.
“GM’s way of rewarding Canadian autoworkers is to throw them onto the street.”
General Motors received $61.5 billion in bailout funds from the U.S., Canadian and Ontario governments in 2009 as it went through bankruptcy protection,
Buckley urged Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to demand that GM rescind the closure.
The rising value of the Canadian dollar has made it tough to compete with the U.S. for new investment, Buckley said.
The latest job cuts come on top of the 2,600 jobs lost in 2009 when GM closed its truck plant in Oshawa, and the July 2010 closure of its transmission plant in Windsor, where it once employed 7,000 people.
Steve Rodgers, head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, said GM’s announcement sends a message to all Canadian autoworkers — labour costs in this country must fall and match those in the United States.