General Motors has rejected Canadian labor union Unifor’s proposal to keep the Oshawa Assembly plant open and has instead asked the union to begin employee transition efforts.
Unifor president Jerry Dias, along with other representatives from the union, entered discussions with GM over its decision to close the Oshawa Assembly plant in Ontario on Monday. Unifor sought to bargain with GM to keep the plant open past 2019, but GM has rejected its numerous proposals, saying they “don’t address,” the current economic situation in the auto industry.
In a press release sent out Tuesday night, GM encouraged Unifor to instead work with it to help find employment for displaced Oshawa Assembly workers.
“GM responded to Unifor proposals from December and invited the union to begin constructive discussions on transition strategies and supports for Oshawa Assembly workers who may elect to either retire or pursue new careers following their work for GM,” the automaker said.
It also pointed out in the release that it had previously announced “millions of dollars in training support for Oshawa Assembly employees who wish to transition to new careers but may require additional training.”
The automaker says it has been contacted by more than 20 large employers across Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area that may be interested in hiring former GM workers. These employers could be looking to fill up to 5,000 positions over the next two years, the company indicated.
GM’s decision to close the Oshawa plant was part of its ‘Accelerated Transformation’Â plan it made in late November of last year. The new corporate strategy will also see the closure of two US assembly plants located in Ohio and Michigan, along with two US transmission plants.
The plant closures will also spell the end of several GM nameplates including the Chevrolet Impala, Volt, and Cruze, Cadillac XTS and Buick LaCrosse. GM plans to pour more resources into trucks, SUVs and crossovers in coming years, along with electric and autonomous vehicles.
Dias said GM’s decision was spurred on by “corporate greed,” in an interview after his meeting with the automaker Tuesday night. Unifor plans to continue its campaign against GM’s decision, with Dias pledging to not give up.
Comments
Good job Mary hope you enjoy your salary and your pink slip to the Chevy Vega plant I hope your done ruining GM reputation
These guys are going a dismal job of doing any type of PR spin on this. If it isn’t already GM fast becoming the most hated company in North America! The union going to come into those 2019 contract negotiations loaded for bear. How do you thing GM would like a company wide strike for a few months?
The union did them selves in with their past demands and hostile activity towards GM in the past. They won no friends in a Detroit unlike a number of UAW local have with their cooperation.
Right now with a booming economy many companies are looking for workers as there are shortages of good employees.
If they can show up everyday at most companies they can find decent jobs.
I know one company near Lordstown that is willing to train welders and start at a high wage or just start experienced welders at a higher wage because the can not get anyone to apply.
The media’s left leaning and hate of large old companies love to paint them evil but the truth is the shearing of poor selling products will save many more jobs over the few they will lose.
If someone in the past had the balls to do this they would not have gone bankrupt. Ironically It took someone with out balls to do it.
Unions that work with companies today will survive those who don’t will vanish much like the United Rubber Workers did.
The future for both sides is cooperation.
Because of this I expect Lordstown unlike Oshawa May go back on line when the right product is ready for it.
PS if you want steady work do not work assembly lines. Best to be in a stamping plant or other parts supplying plant. Much less down time.
Any idiot can cut jobs. Executive privilege allows CEOs like Machete Mary to make people below them pay the price for the CEO’s mistakes. In this case, the inept Barra misread the market and shift toward trucks, SUVs, and CUVs. As a result, her company is behind Ford and FCA in making the shift. The same mistake is being made with AVs and EVs. Barra is doubling down resources in his area just as any interest that was in AVs is waning, and any traction EVs gained in the marketplace is cooling with the elimination of the $7,500 tax credit. Sorry, at $22 Million a year, better decisions should have been made. Of course pissing off the political structure as Barra has at all levels of government does not help her case in extending the credits.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra is playing hardball because they’re in the driver’s seat and squeezing Unifor to get as many concessions from the union and potentially out of the Canadian government as possible before they agree to retool the Oshawa facility for new vehicle production; this isn’t corporate greed as much as good business because GM thinks Oshawa is no longer needed.
meanwhile at the other side of the planet: Jaguar Land Rover to make thousands of job cuts after China, diesel slump: source
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/transport/jaguar-land-rover-to-make-thousands-of-job-cuts-after-china-diesel-slump-source
Screw you GM. You made this mess, you clean it up.
“The automaker says it has been contacted by more than 20 large employers across Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area that may be interested in hiring former GM workers. These employers could be looking to fill up to 5,000 positions over the next two years, the company indicated.”
What are these large companies? Big boxes and fast food?