General Motors closed the Oshawa Assembly plant at the end of 2019 and for much of this year, the future of the facility was looking very grim. With only a few hundred people working there supporting a small parts production operation, many believed that GM vehicle production in Oshawa was done for good – until Unifor stepped up to help save the historic plant during its 2020 contract negotiations with the automaker.
Unifor has put together a video outlining how it worked to help save vehicle production at GM Oshawa Assembly during these recent contract negotiations. As the union points out in the video, its efforts to save the Oshawa plant actually began way back in late 2018, after GM announced its intention to close the plant at the end of the year. Running a lengthy campaign that consisted of rallies, TV radio, newspaper and billboard ads, the union convinced GM to keep 300 workers at the plant for parts production. GM also committed to building its new advanced vehicle test track near Oshawa Assembly around this time, guaranteeing some white-collar GM jobs for the region as well.
Unifor workers protest the decision to close Oshawa Assembly in 2019
When Unifor arrived at the bargaining table with GM this fall, it came prepared to negotiate a deal with GM and the federal and provincial governments to save vehicle production at Oshawa Assembly. The union’s efforts worked, with GM now committing to a $1 billion+ investment to retool the facility to begin production of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks at the plant. This is considered a major victory for Unifor, as GM’s light and heavy-duty pickups are among its most popular and profitable models – giving Unifor-represented employees at the plant strong job security for the foreseeable future.
“It’s not every day that a union gets to make history but that’s exactly what Unifor did,” the union said in a statement. “In November of 2018, when GM announced plans to shut down Oshawa, our union launched the most aggressive campaign in its history to keep the assembly line.”
Check out the video embedded below to learn more about how Unifor and union leader Jerry Dias secured the future of Oshawa Assembly in the video embedded below. The first trucks are expected to begin rolling off the assembly line at the southern Ontario plant in early 2022.
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Comments
Who help drive GM to want to leave in the first place!
Maybe the UAW could take some notes so I can go back to Lordstown. Living in Fort Wayne during the week and driving home on weekends stinks.
Lordstown maybe done but the northern Baltimore plant is still around FWIW.
Isn’t Lordstown scheduled to be a new high volume EV battery plant as announced by GM earlier this year ?
Economics, US dollar is worth more, on the volume GM generates, even a .50, adds up very quickly. And the bottom line is ALL gm cares about, not the people. Not our country. When they’ve said one is closed here, it’s closed.
They came through when the UAW could not. UAW leaders criminals big differences.
The UAW did save detroit Hamtramck
That was kinda easy because nothing says “#1 Detroit automaker” than closing the only Detroit plant they have.
Steven Carlisle a Canadian that started as an I.E.in Oshawa and former head of Cadillac and GM of Canada promoted by Mary Barra recently to the new head of North American Assembly Operations ,probably played a bigger role in saving Oshawa Assembly than Jerry Diaz getting all the media attention with threats of Canadian boycott ,some really warranted when they we helped save them from bankruptcy with billions and takeaways,and they broke signed contracts , over product allocation discontinued Car lines, then pulled the plug and left after 100 years of Quality, Effective cost control ,leadership, and a Great Workforce over many years of service !
Seems gm is and has been making money hand over fist. More than ever. And still wants more. Off the backs of the so called criminal uaw members backs, unifor too. Yes, I’m a retired uaw member. Biggest profit share I ever got was about 300 bucks. Once. Most years it was none. Working a Sunday was unheard of. The uaw is being cleaned up. Old saying of a couple of bad apples….. Think it’s easy work? Wasn’t in my day, and definitely isn’t now.
You know some appear to forget that companies are a for profit deal. Companies are here to make money not employee people, employment is a positive side effect of a profitable company.
You are hired at a wage and no matter how much a company makes or loses you are owed that wage for the day you put in. You are owed a safe place to work and fair conditions but that is it. If you don’t like the wage get another line of work.
Today most automakers are struggling even making Billions in profits as billions are needed for development. Companies as large as FCA have had to merge as they can’t do it alone anymore. Even Ram and Jeep are not enough.
I have worked in mfg and if you want steady work get a different line of work. It is never stable.
Jobs are not rights. Jobs are opportunities and it is up to you to find what fits the best and work to that goal. Unions and hand outs are not the way forward.
If you want CEO pay get your education. Work the long hours, go through several marriages, miss your kids growing up, get moved around the world 4-5 times and then become a target for everyone’s gripe and you too could make that kind of money.
There was a time when some manufacturing companies were known as “Good Corporate Citizens “and profit sharing maybe an example ,not just lucrative for profit,the stockholders and retirement funds ,but workers too .Unions definitely helped created the middle class in North America look around you today in our permanent part time society ,food lines ,shut stores in every town or city we let our manufacturing base slip away to the lowest bidders in .Mexico and the Far East, and have completing the race to the bottom .We have to take a U turn to reinvent our manufacturing base ,not with more electronic gimmicks but great styling, engineering ,cost effective and environmentally good propulsion methods and a new breed of builders of our U.S. economy and way of life !
Unions created the middle class but they are what is destroying it in the end.
You can pay someone $15 per hour and benefits for but then that increase the cost for everyone and then they want more to buy that burger and the cycle repeats again and again.
The way forward is to improve on an individual level not as a group. Like the army you can choose to remain a private or you can make opportunities to advance.
You need to learn to be competitive just as the MFGs have. It is a fight for survival on all levels. Everyone does not get a trophy. If they do then you have to be happy with paying more for everything.
Sure people all complain about imports but then they go right out and buy them. No one is willing to pay the price, no one!
The first step to fix American mfg or jobs as a whole is better work ethics. God knows at work we have good paying jobs but it is hard to find people to fill them.
Many don’t want to show up daily. We fire most because of call offs even after generous paid time off and personal time paid and unpaid is used.
Then we have trouble where many can’t pass a simple drug test. Sad!
Even worse is many fail background checks. We need to use care as many are open to customer information and we can not risk customer security on someone that has a record.
Theft. Yes it is not major but it happens where people steal from the company.
I live near Lordstown and it was a joke how many GM car radios were floating around for sale New Years ago.
Unions had it easy as years ago they were just competing with cross town companies. Today they are competing with global companies where labor is cheaper.
MFGs have a choice build it here at a lower price or some place else cheaper so they can compete on price. Like it or not profits are required and you need to make all you can or you lose investors.
You can blame the push for globalization for all of this. Britain was the mfg hub for years till America took it away. Now the many less developed areas are now taking it from us. Some we may get back much will never return. We need to focus on what we do best and develop that.
We as a country need to do as individuals work to where opportunities are and not just expect things to be given to us.
Like a race team that has lost its edge you have to work to get competitive again. Change is not easy but repeating the same failed course is no how you succeed nor is blaming others.
I started out working with my hands and loved it. But to get ahead education and working behind a computer screen is where I got ahead. Now that I am here I am very happy. Now because of the virus and technology I can work from home now.
The government did not pay my way, the union did not do anything for me but lose one job to Mexico. I had to make my own way and put myself in a place to succeed.
Like this who came to this country to settle it. They had to fight and adapt to not only succeed but to survive. There was no good citizens to bail you out.
We have had it easy for too long and as a country need to learn how to be competitive again. Efforts equal results.
When all these companies lay people off en masse, they are destroying the very market that supports them.
And if the company fails not only do those who get laid off lose their jobs but also the rest of them at the company.
I worked for Hoover. They tried to stay here in several ways. Yet the union did not cut much help. For me they did me a favor as I had not been there long. But my buddy was upset the union did not cut a deal and the jobs left and the company sold out to Maytag. He had nest 15 years in and it was all gone.
The tire companies all struggled with the URW. During the depression they went to 6 hour shifts to employ 4 shifts of workers. The workers got paid for 8 hours.
In the 70’s the tire companies were hurting with cheap imports dumped on our market. They asked for the workers to keep the same pay and go to three 8 hour shifts. If they did they would build new plants here in town. They refused. The plants were torn down or repurposed into other facilities.
Then the next step followed. Firestone sold out to Japan, BFG sold out to the French, General tire sold out to Germany.
Goodyear is the only one still headquartered here and they are a shadow of what they once were. Only racing tires are built here and experimental. That is it. If these moves had not been made these companies would have closed.
I know there are cases where unions have helped but I also have seen personally where they have done unrepairable damage.
The best results is where both sides work together.
Sorry. Unless you start a company , a lot of CEOs are political appointees. I know those people who worked hard, went through marriages, and were evaluated but for reasons other than performance they hit a glass ceiling. If you don’t have the right people on your side to fast track you, you are not going anywhere.
Yes politics internally play a role but yet they all generally pay their dues at some point.
I know people in the auto industry and tire industry that went far but paid a big price.
Like lifevtheirvare winners and losers here. Not everyone gets a trophy.
If you have not noticed life is not always fair. Some times you get the gold ring some times you get nothing. But if you never try your failure is assured.
I have one guy at work who has BS’d his way to the top. It sucks but he also is skating on thin ice and could pay the big price when he no longer fools everyone.
I have won some lost some but I try to be honest, hard working and try to make the right life decisions for my self. In the long run I have more wins vs loses.
The key is to position yourself for opportunities and make the best with them.
You make your own luck.
Well, we know which side of the fence CR.8 is.
Been there done that and moved on.
If you feel you can’t make it and need someone else to represent you that is fine. I just feel I have more vested in my future than some guy who doesn’t even know my name.
Reading Comments From Straight Dumbasses
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