Unifor workers at a General Motors supplier plant in Windsor, Ontario have vowed to halt production at the facility until the company reverses its decision to close the factory’s doors by mid-2020.
The Windsor plant is operated by Mexican automotive supplier Nemak, which recently signed a contract with GM to produce the aluminum engine blocks and bedplates for the 6.2-liter LT2 V8 and engine blocks for the 3.0-liter LM2 inline-six at the facility.
Nemak had contracted its Windsor plant to build the aluminum blocks, but then in mid-July announced that it would close the plant and move production of the V8 and I6 blocks to a facility in Monterrey, Mexico. The Windsor plant was also going to be the sole provider of the blocks before its closure was announced.
Prior to receiving allocation for the LT2 and LM2 engine blocks, the Nemak-operated plant built 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine blocks that were exported to GM’s Shanghai production plant, where they were installed in Cadillac vehicles for local consumption. Reduced demand in China forced Nemak to phase out the export program with GM’s Chinese subsidiary, which would bring capacity utilization of the Windsor plant “to less than 10% by 2020,” even with LT2 and LM2 allocation.
Unifor had previously expressed its frustration toward Nemak over its decision to close the Windsor plant, with union president Jerry Dias accusing the company of taking “millions in government handouts and posting revenues of over $4 billion world-wide,” before announcing the plant closure. In 2015, the Canadian federal government gave Nemak $3 million CAD to develop “new powertrain lightweighting technologies,” for aluminum engines.
“This is a betrayal of both the workers who generated their profits and the public they siphoned millions from,” Dias added.
Workers at the Windsor plant, represented by Unifor Local 200, vowed to stay off the job and ensure the plant remains closed until the Mexican company reverses its decision to shutter the plant before the end of 2020.
“Nemak is out of business until further notice,” Dias was quoted in saying as he stood outside the Windsor facility this week. “We will be here until we have a solution.”
Nemak released a statement in response, calling the strike illegal and saying it would contact the Ontario provincial government to have the picket removed.
“Nemak is disappointed that Unifor decided to organize an illegal stoppage to our operations, and will pursue an application with the Ontario Labor Relations Board to cease Unifor’s blockade,” the company said.
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Source: Unifor/Automotive News Canada
Comments
They’re lucky to have jobs.., dealing w unions is a waste of time…. shut the place down. None of the transplants have to deal with this, its BS. Time to decertify or shut the plant.
Hope your industry is targeted right after they finish with us. Prayers that your reap tenfold what you’ve sown in your mind for others. Everything you wish for others should first affect your loved ones
Reinvent yourself.. take control of your own life and destiny. Only an idiot would sit there. You think for one minute GM is going to continue to deal with these corrupt union “like it used to be?” Unions ruined GM, Ford and Chrysler… legacy costs sapped everything out of those companies….
Unlike your patheticness I wish you much success in your next industry because it’s coming…
You do realize if there is no one building anything, our economy will grind to a halt right? the digital economy is dependent on people having income to spend digitally. Not everyone can work in service industries, all facets of the economy depend on each other thriving. I used to think the way you did, the past 4 years have convinced me otherwise.
Did you have Labor Day off, if you did thank the labor movement.
10% capacity is a pretty short pry bar last time I checked, not to mention ICE powertrain supply plants days are kinda numbered!
So basically they are helping them shut the plant down, just earlier.
You all are jerks. So it’s ok for companies to take good paying jobs and take them to Mexico where they can exploit the workers and the environment. Unions are the only thing standing in the way over complete corporate greed and the lowering of the world’s standards of living.
“Unions are the only thing standing in the way”
Then it’s pretty much over. The unions are all either powerless, corrupt, or both.
There is no future for manufacturing of any sort in developed countries.
You show me a country that does not have a strong manufacturing base, I will show you a country that is an also ran. Remember, the tech, engineering, and design- the so called “knowledge jobs” will follow to the country that masters putting things together.
The only reason there is a middle class is unions. Read your history. If you want to have child labor, horrible working conditions and no benefits or days off again, get rid of the unions.
“The only reason there is a middle class is unions.”
Dead wrong. There has been a middle-class long before the industrial age, and unions didn’t create them. Stratified nobility of Europe did.
And a lot of these people will be the first to complain when they drive on busted roads, have 40 students per teacher in their children’s school, and be mad when the city asks for higher taxes to compensate for industry leaving. It is not only the workers being employed- nonunion or not- it is the tax base as well. I have yet to see a strong community built on a diet of Wal-Mart and Mc Donald’s type business.
So many stupid and angry comments, ignorant too. To be competitive globally GM has to make profits and lower costs. In a globally competitive market where cars can be built and shipped to a market for less than it can be made in that market it’s not just common sense but Economics 101 to move production. None of the transplants (Toyota. Nissan, Honda, Kia, BMW… there are a lot more) do not have to deal with this BS. They are not hamstrung by a union and those companies are kicking GMs butt… GM is already reducing union jobs not because it’s a greedy company that’s hates its employees it’s fighting to exist with one hand tied behind its back. The unions must die NOW!
Also in my 57 years I’ve changed industries 4X so to the one hoping I’d suffer 10 fold, these people need to reinvent themselves vs sit on their @$$’$ while the union destroys their livelihoods.
Henry Ford gave his employees “jobs” vs show up and maybe you get hired and he doubled wages, unions are NOT the reason we have a middle class..
Well said..folks rarely look at American history when looking forward..GM could fold and restart in a different name..down size and be union free for a while..being held hostage is not free enterprise..
People instead of fighting over an article read into the full picture with todays rules and regulations there is no need for a union which creates high overhead and to some not all extent a workforce not pushing the boundrys of effeicincy but stuck in rountine work enviroment. We need a flexible workforce with can do attitude to compete.
The days with this plant in the hands of Nemak are all done. SO that leads to the next question: what does Nemak propose to do with it? If the plant (and the casting lines equipment) become available, then there are some interesting new products that can be built there, and quite profitably. Specifically, DARPA has developed an opposed-piston engine that is perfect for heavy trucks, generators, that sort of thing. And such engines are readily adaptable to light aircraft; the German Luftwaffe had a rather nice opposed-piston engine fitted to everything from their bombers to the ME-109. The alternative to such engines is the jet, but unfortunately the jet is very pricey. The renaissance of the aircraft opposed-piston design is waiting to happen.
There are other markets for medium-speed diesels with an underslung design, especially for the new versions of DMU rail equipment being developed. What you guys need is an entrepreneur with flair, able to take that plant, refit it, and start cranking out new engines. Cheers.
GM will walk out, think Flint, Michigan – 80’s
Fire them all. That’s what would happen if I didn’t show up to my job.