General Motors workers from the Oshawa Assembly plant have held a protest at the Detroit River waterfront over the automaker’s decision to close the plant at the end of 2019.
Hundreds of GM Oshawa workers made the four hour drive to Windsor, Ontario for the protest, which borders GM’s home city of Detroit and sits in the shadow of its Renaissance Center headquarters. There the protestors spoke out against GM, telling Canada’s national news network, CBC, that they are turning their backs on the company and are no longer proud to work at the Oshawa facility.
“We’ve been loyal GM customers, loyal GM employees and there’s just no loyalty back,” one Oshawa employee said. “It’s shame, shame on General Motors.”
Another worker vowed to boycott GM products from here on out.
“You can bet your ass I’m not buying a GM vehicle ever again,” they said.
Unifor, the labor union representing workers at the GM Oshawa plant, met with the automaker in Detroit earlier this month over the impending plant closure. Unifor president Jerry Dias attempted to bargain with the automaker to keep the plant open past 2019, but the automaker claimed the union’s various proposals did not address its current financial situation.
Instead, GM encouraged Unifor to work with it to help find work for the thousands of employees who will be left without work once the plant is closed. The automaker claims it has identified local placements with other companies for qualified employees, but Oshawa workers say those jobs are only open to tradespeople who did not go to university. One who spoke to CBC called the transition program a “crock.” Another said GM’s claims that there are thousands of jobs in the area are “outright lies.”
GM says it remains committed to Canada and will continue to invest in projects like its Mobility Campus in Toronto and its Canadian Technology Center (CTC) in nearby Markham.
(source: CBC)
Photo via CBC on YouTube
Comments
Yawn!
Unifor has damaged any relations ship with GM long ago.
The products that Oshawa got were not rewards but just products to work on till the end arrived. They knew this. The XTS was not a prize most plants wanted because of the dim future it held.
Note the UAW who has had a much quieter response and the knowledge they may hold a very good chance to reopen the closed plants with bids on new product that will be coming to market. Just look at the forum here and the number of new CUV models being built.
The Blazer did not fit the Lordstown paint shop but the Trailblazer may just be just what they can replace the Cruze with. Also the sister GM products this platform will share.
While GM has had to deliver some bad news right now in time they will be able to talk about the future and deliver the news of new product going to the UAW plants.
So sit back and watch what happens. I wager Lordstown will get a small CUV line and Hamtramck becomes the ground zero for the Cadillac EV lines that will begin to be built in the next couple years.
Again much of what is going on has yet to be unveiled yet. This is only act one of a play several acts long.
With so many contract needing to be negotiated with the UAW not all can be told yet or product show to the press.
As for Oshawa. The bridges to Oshawa have been burned by Unifor and I do not see them being rebuilt. Their actions are the sign they know they overstepped their bounds with GM and now hope to use public opinion to try to change them. Well it is not going to work.
Oshawa has been told they would be close multiple times over the last 25 years. They got reprieves several times but when they were awarded the XTS, Lacrosse and Impala it was a sign they were done in 2019 when these cars were gone with no plans for future product. Most visitors here saw it coming so why are they so blind?
Local 222 could learn much from the UAW.
Latest news is that the Cadilkac CT6 may be sticking around and for some “Fd UP” reason, move to another location to continue production, there are even talks on that car being proposed for import from China. Yet no win for the employee that works or worked at the current plant.
God forbid some people lose their jobs but the company stay in business so the rest of the employees can keep theirs.
No, everyone must lose their job and the company goes under because they’re greedy and clearly don’t have a clue that the purpose of a company is to stay in business and make money.
We have seen this scenario for over 30 years at GM. In that time, they have closed over 30 assembly plants and even more parts plants. In the next 30 years does GM and their brands morph to an American marketer of foreign-made vehicles with a 500 person cubicle farm?
We have been hearing that BS from GM for the last 30 years. Over, and over, and over again we have heard that “these actions are going to position GM well for the future” only to have another restructuring full of “rightsizing” and “unallocation” and any other fancy euthanism GM management can come up with to try and hide their incompetence. Bottom line: If you are closing plants and losing market share- especially during relative good economic times- you are not offering the product the customer wants. Period. And that failure is incumbent upon upper management.
If GM is taking these actions when they are making record profits, what are they going to do when there is a recession?
I wish Unifor and the UAW well in trying to save these plants and get new product allocated to them.