The 2018 announcement by General Motors to abandon its Oshawa plant has had a ripple effect — not only in the province of Ontario, but across Canada as well.
On Monday, Unifor launched a 30-second TV commercial criticizing GM for its decision to close the Oshawa assembly plant while seeking to expand production in Mexico. The commercial was part of an ongoing advertising campaign by the union.
“We are making sure Canadians understand that GM is betraying Canadian taxpayers and the automaker needs to realize that if they expect Canadian consumers to remain loyal to GM vehicles, they need to be loyal to GM workers and keep building here,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor’s National President.
The TV advertisement focuses on GM’s greed as Canada paid $11 billion to bailout the automaker in 2008. Unifor says Mexico “did not give a dime to save GM from bankruptcy.”
Following the launch of the ad, GM sent a letter to Dias where it said there were many economic and market factors that triggered their decision to close the plant, and that resulted in the carmaker’s November 26th announcement.
These includes factors such as “the substantial decline in the large car market caused by market shifts from sedans to crossovers and SUVs, significantly increased material costs, the discontinuation of the products currently produced at Oshawa, and excess capacity at GM combined with very low capacity utilization at Oshawa assembly,” said Gerald Johnson, Vice President, Manufacturing and Labor Relations, GM.
He adds that these issues resulted in a vital need to consolidate operations, reduce costs and improve their cash flow.
GM posted a news release the same day saying it invited the union to begin “constructive discussions” on transition strategies and supports for Oshawa assembly workers. The company plans to put millions of dollars towards training support for employees who would prefer to transition into a new career rather than retire.
Unifor will continue to put pressure on GM with its upcoming solidarity rally set for Friday, January 11 at 11:00 a.m. EST. The rally will take place at Dieppe Gardens in Windsor, Ont.
Unifor’s TV advertisement:
“Hey GM, you want to sell here, build here.”
