November 26, 2018
OSHAWA – Unifor is calling on General Motors Canada to allocate product to the Oshawa Assembly Plant past its current run date of December 2019.
“Oshawa Assembly is GM’s most decorated plant with a highly skilled, committed workforce,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. “Additionally, the USMCA provides the Canadian auto industry with firm footing so walking away after a hundred year history of manufacturing makes no sense.”
General Motors announced restructuring of its North American operations today, reporting that no product is currently allocated to Oshawa Assembly after December 2019.
In February, the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra truck lines successfully launched following a $500 million transformation that made Oshawa the only plant in North America capable of building both cars and trucks.
“Unifor does not accept the closure of the plant as a foregone conclusion,” said Dias. “Oshawa has been in this situation before with no product on the horizon and we were able to successfully make the case for continued operations. We will vigorously fight again to maintain these good-paying auto jobs.”
GM registered $6 billion US in profits in the first three quarters of this year and North America is responsible for 90 per cent of GM’s global profits. For each direct job, it’s estimated that there are 7 spin off jobs that are key to the local economy.
For more information, please contact Unifor Communications Representative Kathleen O’Keefe at kathleen.okeefe@unifor.org or 416-896-3303 (cell).
