Canadian union Unifor, which represents the thousands of workers at General Motors’ Oshawa plant, expects to receive a response about saving some Canadian manufacturing jobs next week.
Unifor’s proposal looks to save some jobs at the Oshawa Assembly Plant in Ontario, but the finer details are still unclear, as per an Automotive News Canada report on Wednesday.
According to the report, Unifor Local 222 President Colin James said the union has not been in discussion with GM since March 19th, when Unifor President Jerry Dias met with GM Canada executives about the proposal. The Canadian union paused its aggressive campaign against the automaker when GM decided to review the proposal.
James said the automaker wanted to run the proposal through an assessment of sorts and added that GM would respond after it was completed. He remains confident, based on timelines, that the union will hear back next week.
Impala production in Oshawa
The proposal may involve stamping work at the plant. In fact, James hinted the proposal could very well revolve around the Oshawa stamping facility. At this point, the union is concerned with saving any jobs it can. GM has remained firm that it will close the Oshawa plant at the end of this year. Currently, the plant builds the Cadillac XTS and Chevrolet Impala, and performs final assembly for last-gen, K2-based Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.
Most of Oshawa’s stamping work goes to the GM Detroit-Hamtramck plant in Michigan, which is also slated to go idle in January 2020. However, the union hopes it can look outside of the box to save any jobs at the Oshawa plant. Any positive deal would still be a blow to Oshawa as James admitted not every job can be saved at the plant.
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Source: Automotive News
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