General Motors wants to talk severance packages

OSHAWA — As Oshawa General Motors workers prepare to ramp up their fight against the company’s plans to close the Oshawa assembly plant, company officials say they want to talk severance terms in anticipation of the closure.

GM officials and Unifor, the union representing Oshawa autoworkers, met on Tuesday with the union hoping the company would consider Unifor proposals to keep the Oshawa plant open beyond 2019.

Unifor national president Jerry Dias said in a post-meeting news conference that GM was holding firm in its decision to close the plant.

“We are not acknowledging the closure of our Oshawa plant, we are not going to allow you to make a decision that’s going to negatively impact and destroy our community of Oshawa,” said Dias.

Workers in Oshawa staged a four-hour sit-down in the plant on Tuesday night and a two-hour sit-down Wednesday morning.

Jennifer Wright, director of communications for General Motors Canada, said the solutions proposed by Unifor did not work for the company and plans to close the plant remain in place.

“We did — as a company — review Unifor’s proposal in detail and all of their proposals involved a substantial incremental cost, a deterioration of our competitive position and GM was unable to pursue any of their recommendations because we still need to address the economic and market factors.”

Wright said the Oshawa plant is operating at 30 per cent of capacity and there are no further plans to allocate product.

She said the company wants to work with Unifor to transition employees following the closure. Of the 3,000 workers at the plant, Wright said about half are eligible for retirement.

In a letter to Unifor, GM highlighted a “significant” lump sum retirement incentive and a $20,000 car voucher for retirement-eligible employees. Hourly workers would also receive a lump-sum payment to assist with the transition to new jobs, supplemental layoff benefits, health care continuation and other benefits guaranteed under the contract.

Wright said GM is hoping the union will sit down and negotiate an “enhanced” packaged for Oshawa employees. She said GM has now been in touch with 20 employers in the GTA that have 5,000 potential jobs in the pipeline for GM workers.

“Our position is, unfortunately, not going to change, the market conditions are not changing, there simply is not product to allocate to Oshawa,” said Wright, adding that the company wants to do its best to take care of employees.

“Our goal is to find a job for every impacted Oshawa employee in addition to a very generous compensation package.”

But union members believe the best way to take care of Oshawa GM workers is to keep the plant open.

“The reality is General Motors is going to have to find a solution to keep our Oshawa plant going, that is the only acceptable solution as we stand here today,” said Dias.

To that end, workers are planning a rally in Windsor on Friday.

John McVey, a member of Unifor Local 222’s political action committee said he expects five buses to head out from Oshawa in the early morning for an 11 a.m. rally in Windsor.

Buses will also head out from Brampton, Kitchener, London and St. Catharines.

“That day they’re having their investors meeting and the rally on our side of the river — in the background is the GM headquarters (in Detroit),” explains McVey.

“The demonstration on Friday is the mere start of the campaign,” said Dias.

He believes Canadian consumers are furious with the company and, although he did not call for a boycott, Dias said he believes consumers will boycott the company if the Oshawa plant is closed.

“I’m convinced that General Motors didn’t expect the backlash that they’re facing from Canadians, but faced with all of the facts that have unfolded since the announcement, in my opinion they haven’t reached far enough or deep enough to find a solution.”

GM officials say that even with the decision to close the Oshawa facility, they are committed to staying in Canada.

“GM still has a strong presence in Canada and we’re committed to Canada and our future,” said Wright, citing continued manufacturing operations in Ingersoll and St. Catharines and the 23,000 people employed by GM dealers across the country.