Recording artist Sting arrived in Oshawa, Ontario by police escort last week in order to perform for workers at General Motors’ ill-fated Oshawa Assembly plant.
According to Automotive News, the former frontman of The Police appeared in Oshawa alongside cast members of his musical The Last Ship and performed songs from show, which is currently playing at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto.
The Last Ship follows the rise and fall of the shipbuilding industry in Sting’s hometown of Newcastle, UK.The plot of the musical is similar to the situation in Oshawa, Sting explained during his visit, with the displacement of a major manufacturing operation set to leave many workers in the region unemployed.
“It was very important to come here and make a connection with the workers here, because the story we are telling on the stage every night at the Princess of Wales is this story, and it’s a very human story and it’s a very common story, and so we wanted to come here and express our solidarity and support for the struggle,” he said during an address to Unifor workers in attendance at the show. “But its quite uncanny the parallel between what we’re doing on stage every night and what we’re seeing today.”
Via The Canadian Press on YouTube
AN reports that before introducing Sting on stage, Unifor president Gerry Dias used a cheeky reference to one of Sting’s popular songs to warn GM that it hasn’t given up on its fight to keep Oshawa open just yet.
“GM, every move you make, every vow you break, we’ll be watching you,” he said.
In a statement addressing the concert, GM said it was good to see the popular musician showing his support for GM Oshawa workers.
“Sting is a celebrated songwriter and it’s great to have him in Oshawa,” the automaker said. “We agree that community-based efforts are important to support employees, especially when industries have to change. Pensions, $50-60,000 lump sums, new car vouchers, extended benefits and paid retraining at our local community colleges to prepare employees for over 5,000 good available GTA area jobs are among the supports GM has asked Unifor to start to discuss for Oshawa Assembly workers.”
(source: Automotive News)
Comments
Unifor seems to have lots of money to spend on PR stunts like superbowl ads and bringing in has been celebrities, maybe they should use some of that money to re-train or relocate it’s workers.
Just a thought.
I totally agree. How many millions have they spent on advertising against GM when they could have used it towards finding the people out of work another job or giving assistance. What most people forget is how much support GM is giving to the workers affected by the closure. UNIFOR is doing more bad than good as it hurts GM employees not only in Canada but nationally!
Shame on you UNIFOR
GM has done this totally to itself. Much like Trump, in about two years, GM has managed Piss off Europe, Korea, Australia and now Canada. It’s doing a good job in the U.S. too. Pretty soon only the Chinese will work 50% for GM and 50% for China with the U.S. vehicles imported from Mexico.
You think Unifor paid Sting to do this? I’m not sure that’s the case — I’d ask you validate that claim before you state that as fact.
Not saying Sting was necessarily paid but an ad during superbowl is at the minimum $1,000,000. But the gentleman who commented below is probably also probably correct about the Sting part.
Sting did not do this PR stunt for free, I will bet you! This plant shouldn’t be in Canada anyway! Should be in USA!
Canadian’s don’t deserve jobs too? Look what our prime minister is doing… we need all the help we can get
I am getting tired of this BS. Nobody talks about Teslas layoffs. Its
GM GM GM