General Motors Canada will face historic decisions soon, as upcoming labor negotiations ultimately will decide the fate of the Oshawa assembly.
GM has not committed to any future production past 2017, leaving workers worried for job security. The Peter Borough Examiner reports Unifor Local 222 has begun an online petition to raise awareness over the future of Oshawa and its employees, spearheaded by labor activist Linda Mackenzie-Nicholas of Port Hope.
Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Kim Rudd has since responded to the petition, stating the following:
Both the federal government and the provincial government have shown their commitment to GM’s Oshawa plant. Both levels of senior government committed almost $14 billion in 2009 to help stabilize the auto sector.
We certainly hope GM as a private enterprise will determine how important the Oshawa plant is in their strategic future, as we celebrate the recent announcement of almost 1,000 engineering jobs to be located in Durham Region by General Motors.
The petition states, “productive jobs with decent pay are crucial for the well being of our communities. The end of vehicle production at GM Oshawa would lead in just two years to the loss of 33,000 total jobs; the loss of $5.7 billion to Ontario’s economy; and the loss of $1 billion in government revenue.”
GM has consistently reminded those concerned with the future of the assembly plant that labor negotiations will determine the future of the Oshawa assembly plant, which begin later this summer.
Comments
The Canadian government should have insisted in a 30 year commitment from GM to keep plants open. So 14 billion wasted on a company who is now blackmailing the government for more money.
So instead, GM is moving everything to China who will ultimately own it or put it out of business.
Trump will set things right with corporate America and China and we will see a steady downturn in social unrest and twin-turbocharged poverty inflation if Americans are astute enough to simply choose NOT to reelect the same incompetent, non-representitive government that has incrementally gutted the greatest nation on earth. Or stick with Her and wonder why the standard of living for poor and middle class Americans (Democratic Party codewords: “stupid” and “uneducated”) continues to decline. They’ll keep spinning our nation’s shocking downward mobility as byproducts of certain white folks greed and racism while completely dismissing piss-poor economic and foreign policy. At least with Her, a small number of folks (of all races and religions – rich and poor alike thank goodness) who were born one sex but identify as another will finally have the freedom to drop trou in whichever public restroom (evacuation forum?) they choose. Wohoo, Victory at last!
Trump won’t do squat. Everything he sells with his name on it is made in China including many materials to build his buildings. You obviously believe in fairy tales if you believe his nonsense.
China sells the majority of chemicals in all industries including food, pharma, petrochemicals. China can shut down the US and complete retail just by not shipping. Trump is ignorant but is a master at playing with the ignorance of his foolish followers. BTW, I’m not a Clinton fan either.
That’s the problem. China can shut down the US supply of almost everything by not shipping. What an incredibly compromised and imbalanced position our government has put our country in. You have totally nailed it.
Of course, they won’t do that because the massive influx of US consumer dollars over the past 30 years of Free Trade transformed them into the strutting superpower they are today. There simply are no other consumer markets as giant as the US to tap. Without us, they are hosed.
True change means learning from your mistakes and altering course to keep from repeating them indefinitely. It’s taken many years to gauge the true destructiveness of our current Free Trade agreements. You can’t fault the backlash and I’d rather put my faith in someone who’s at least capable of and willing to acknowledge the problem than the people who insist upon sticking to policies and principles that have absolutely proven detrimental to our well being. 20 years ago, it didn’t seem like a bad idea to buy a Japanese or Korean car. When you take a look at the streets across America today, jammed with almost nothing but Japanese and Korean cars, it doesn’t take a genius to see that we’re actively contributing to our own demise and it may be time to start thinking a bit differently. I get your point, Bob, but I’d rather take my chances on a reforming outsourcer than follow puppet Hillary deeper into the abyss.
Unfortunately, more than at any other time in my life, there doesn’t seem to be any good choice in this election.
unless there is a cheque with at least nine digits on it the decision makers in Detroit are not interested in any petition.
The truth is the result will be in the hands of the CAW
When new projects are offered they only need to be competitive with the UAW contracts
GM has more capacity than it needs and local need to compete for the work.
Not much will come from China mostly just limited model already produced there. I’m
GM’s most advanced vehicle, the CT6 Hybrid will be exclusively made in China, by the end of the decade all Buicks except one, not counting the vast number of components and interior trim.
The trend is clearly that only high margin trucks and SUVs will be made in the US. Everything else is going to Mexico and China.
So for those who don’t care about what is taking place in Canada, keep in mind that it’s just a pre-cursor of what will or is already happening in the US.
The race to the bottom is picking up speed. Hope the air bags work.