General Motors expects to shut down the consolidated line that employs about 2,000 workers at its Oshawa, Ontario plant by June 1, 2013. GM originally planned to close the line in 2008, but kept it running thanks to significant demand for the Chevy Equinox crossover.
The plant’s flex line will continue to build the Buick Regal, Cadillac XTS, Chevy Camaro as well as the new Impala starting next year; some of the 2,000 workers from the consolidated may be hired onto the flex line if market demand for the Impala warrants a third shift. However, the new Impala will also be built at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant.
According to Scotiobank economist Carlos Gomes, the most jobs that could make their way to the flex line is about 500, resulting in approximately 1,500 lost jobs. General Motors of Canada director of communications Faye Roberts said that some employees could retire or go on indefinite layoff, making the exact amount of lost jobs difficult to determine.
The consolidated line will be shut down in three stages, with the first of the current three shifts to close by the fourth quarter of 2012; the second shift will cease in the first quarter of 2013 and the final shift will end when production of the current generation Chevrolet Impala ends, likely in June 2013.
“General Motors has made their intentions extremely clear over the last year or so, but we were hoping they would change their position,” said CAW Local 222 chief Chris Buckley.
“It’s disheartening that they’ve decided to close this plant. What’s even more disheartening is they’re not even giving us an opportunity to see if we can do something creative to attract new investment.”
Coincidentally, the current contract for CAW members at GM expires this September, with negotiations for a new three-year agreement expected to start in July. The closure of the consolidate line will be “front and center” during talks, said Buckley.
The GM Authority Take
In our opinion, General Motors is closing the consolidated line for two reasons: the first is the discontinuation of the outgoing Impala; the new 2014 model is likely built more efficiently alongside other Epsilon-based models like the Regal and XTS on the flex line. The second reason is a more efficient method of building the Chevy Equinox.
Currently, Oshawa’s consolidated line builds overflow Equinoxes from CAMI automotive, where CAMI builds un-painted Equinox bodies and moves them off the line before they reach the plant’s paint shop. The extra bodies are then trucked to Oshawa, where they get painted and finish assembly. The technique was a quick (and dirty) fix to substantial Equinox demand that GM didn’t have the capacity to meet. Once the consolidated line is shut down, the Spring Hill plant in Tennessee will become the second plant to build the Chevy Equinox, as General Motors announced in November of 2011; the move will likely result in a more efficient and less costly Equinox assembly.
As it would seem, Canadian jobs are being substituted by those in the U.S.
Comments
Very unfortunate outcome for Canadian workers. Hire laid off Americans and lay off Canadians. When I worked for GM back in the 70’s I had a supervisor who told me “figures don’t lie, but liars can figure”. The truthful reason for this maneuver is contract renewal negotiations. This is a company that received “government dollars” but never went bankrupt here in Canada. I really hope this “trickery” come back to bite them.
You act like the entire plant is being shut down; it isn’t.
the consolidated line is shutting down, we use to have 5 automotive plants in Canada soon we’ll have 1 then gm will say goodbye to Canada oh but we’ll have an RD building which employee’s about 215 people whippee doo..John you must be management
Ha!
You Canadians should be counting your lucky stars, you complain about one line, Canada largely emerged from the global recession unscathed, if you knew the massive pain that we American went through in 08-09 , you would never say that, Europe is in a worse situation than we were, but they still refuse to take the kind of drastic cuts we took.
we are not complaining about 1 line this has been a going on for years now, 5 plants soon only 1 left… believe me I feel the same pain as our American brothers and sisters unfortunately GM is moving all its production to Mexico S. Korea and China because they have no health and safety laws and can exploit the people and pay ridiculous wages like $2 an hour with no benefits. This is an election year so GM since its run by the govt needed to bring back some jobs.
bmann GM is moving all its production to Mexico, South Korea, and China? Really? That’s news to me. With the exception of the Buick Encore, which GM vehicle made outside of North America is imported to North America?
SRX,Silverado,Sierra,Trax,Spark,Orlando, Escalade
I wouldn’t be surprised if they restart the consolidated line down the road for something else.
That would be terrific and certainly improve their “sagging” image.
This is a terible PR move on GM’s part, Canadians remember bailing GM out to the tune of 8 billion dolars in 2009 now they annouce a plant closure, they dont care about a few new products announcement (IMPALA) for the remainig line, this just looks like GM took the money & ran. Is it any wonder GM is #3 in sales in Canada after holding the #1 position for over 50 years ? If GM cant fix this public perception of this problem soon they will suffer more losses in market share with out a doubt !!
A line closure and a plant closure are two very different things, sir.
Re; John Madden, I agree 100% we know the difference between a line closure & a plant closure, but most people take bits & pieces from the media & draw their own conclusions & here are the facts they have to work with, Taxpayers gave them a pile of money 3 years ago to save jobs, now they announce another 2000 job cuts, this won’t sit well with Canadian taxpayers.Im not trying to start an argument, I just want to make a point !
Good Point, people rarely look at the facts and the only thing Canadians will remember is that GM cut jobs and they got bailed out 3 years ago.
Even if that kind of thinking is unfair and wrong for a variety of reasons, thats what theyll think which will hurt GM’s image.
Exactly the point i was trying to make Babersher, & who are the Canadian taxpayers,?…… they are potential customers who are saying “if GM cant support Canada then I guess Canadians cant support GM with buying their products” ! It won’t be long before Hyundai passes GM in market share in Canada & GM moves to 4th if the GM execs don’t get their heads out of the sand ! They will have no one to blame but themselves.
Market share is one thing, but profitability is another.
True, but they often go hand in hand, and volume focused company like GM, being the top three in market at the minimum is really necessary for profitability.
dont worry the canadian government cut 21000 job,for no reason..