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GM to close Oshawa line, lay off 2,000: CAW

he Canadian Auto Workers union says General Motors is going ahead with plans to close its consolidated plant in Oshawa, Ont.

The union says it's been told the facility — the older part of the Oshawa car plant — will close by June 2013 and says that could mean 2,000 layoffs.

President of CAW Local 222 president Chris Buckley says GM gave the union notice today.

The plant produces the Chevrolet Impala and the Equinox. It was originally slated to be closed in 2008 before a series of extensions due to the popularity of those vehicles squeezed more years of life out of it.

GM also has a flex assembly plant in Oshawa that is getting a share of the production of the new Chevy Impala. That flex line currently employs 2,000 people and currently makes the Chevy Camaro, Buick Regal and soon, the Cadillac XTS. If Impala production moved there, it could add another 500 jobs, Buckley said.

The Impala will also be built at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in Michigan. "What we find extremely troubling is as of today GM will still not tell us how many Impalas will be produced in Oshawa," Buckley said.

Starting in the fourth quarter of this year, GM's third shift at the consolidated plant will be removed, followed by an elimination of the second shift in the first quarter of next year. By June 2013, production will completely stop.

Gradual slowdownGM is scaling back its overall operations in Canada as part of a North American restructuring begun two years ago under bankruptcy court protection. Part of that process was an $8-billion cash injection from the governments of Ontario and Ottawa for ownership stakes in the new GM, something the union was eager to discuss on Friday.

Buckley pressed governments to pressure the company to reconsider, and ask what the taxpayers had gotten for their investment. >>>MORE<<<


Added: Jun-1-2012 Occurred On: Jun-1-2012
By: Jennifer Hue
In: Other
Tags: GM, to close, Oshawa, Ont line 2013, 2, 000 workers, Detroit-Hamtramck
Location: Oshawa, Ontario, Canada (load item map)
Marked as: approved
Views: 1381 | Comments: 26 | Votes: 0 | Favorites: 0 | Shared: 0 | Updates: 0 | Times used in channels: 1
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  • In case you were wondering why we should let poorly managed companies fail, here you go. Throwing money at them does not change the bad management, make them magically successful, or buy a shred of loyalty.

    It also doesn't stop them from going bankrupt anyway, closing down operations all over the country, and moving their plants to Mexico and China, speaking of slave wages. And forget about ever getting your tax money back out of them. Most of it has been written off.

    Vote me down all you want More..

    Posted Jun-1-2012 By 
    kajidono (686.16)  

    (2)

  • There is no such thing as "free" trade - just greedy corporations and hapless workers. North American manufacturing is being hollowed-out by poverty wages in China - its costing us all - but the owners of GM, Walmart, etc.

    Voters have been completely sucked in by the word "free".

    Posted Jun-1-2012 By 
    Nepean109 (1010.80)  

    (1)

    • Comment of user 'Humanfuse' has been deleted by author!
  • Comment of user 'MB-UK' has been deleted by author!
  • Comment of user 'Humanfuse' has been deleted by author!

  • This is the race to the bottom but on a bi-national rather than international scale - the UAW was willing to adjust worker wages to as low as $14/hr, but the CAW insisted on keeping wages at the current level of $32/hr (IMO that is too much, but cutting it to 14 is pretty much going the opposite way). All of the Big Three have been guilty of this in Ontario - shifting their operations to the states because the governments and unions there were all too willing to accept worse pay and benefits to More..

    Posted Jun-1-2012 By 
    sakb (8314.30)  

    (0)

  • Shitty, that's a lot of job's lost.
    GM will probably relocate the plant to China where they don't have those pesky union's.

    Posted Jun-1-2012 By 
    Dave556 (1948.06)  

    (0)

  • how's that hopey changey workin out for ya?

    Posted Jun-2-2012 By 
    Amusing (5214.78)

    (0)

  • Of course! there shipping the jobs to there new facility with a new name, CM! CHINAMOTORS! BASED IN CHINA.

    Posted Jun-2-2012 By 
    virtualdesires (489.74)

    (0)

  • Canada's natural resource sector is driving up the Canadian dollar, which drives up the cost of doing business in Ontario. Big oil is absolutely killing Canadian manufacturing. This is fact. Pretty soon, the only place to find work in Canada will be the oil fields. Good money, but you better spend it before you die from cancer.

    Posted Jun-2-2012 By 
    Live2Race (168.10)  

    (0)

    • @Live2Race

      I would have to wonder if perhaps Ontario having the highest electricity rates in North America might have something to do with hurting the manufacturing sector. All manufacturing runs on electricity. That too is a fact.

      Posted Jun-2-2012 By 
      Captain Canuck (1389.72)  

      (0)

  • Gotta love the CAW and Buzz Hargrove now huh?
    Yup, talked their way into unemployment. Now we'll see the buggers bumping other CAW members out of jobs in St.Catharines. The LAST GM line in Canada.
    to think GM's best production lines are now almost closed totally in Canada. With a stroke of a pen, all those St.Catharines GM plant jobs can be gone in a heartbeat. Fellas, I won't be buying any cars or trucks right now, it called relocation and its coming sooner than later. Better check out your re More..

    Posted Jun-2-2012 By 
    Less1leg (335.46)

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  • CONGRATULATIONS UNION AUTO WORKERS! You just cut your own throats in another auto assembly plant! Your greed was your undoing. I love it...socialist ba5tards.

    Posted Jun-2-2012 By 
    Johnls (320.12)  

    (-1)

    • @Johnls Did you even read the article retard? "It was originally slated to be closed in 2008 before a series of extensions due to the popularity of those vehicles squeezed more years of life out of it."
      "the older part of the Oshawa car plant ". It has NOTHING to do with them being union. way to make yourself look stupid.

      Posted Jun-2-2012 By 
      cdlcrash (317.90)  

      (2)

    • @cdlcrash Obama bucks ran out,Capitalist bucks are in.

      Posted Jun-3-2012 By 
      opacity (120.68)  

      (0)

    • @opacity So you didn't read it then. Too many big words?

      Posted Jun-3-2012 By 
      cdlcrash (317.90)  

      (0)

    • @cdlcrash Keep reaching and grasping. grasping is my big word of the day.

      Posted Jun-8-2012 By 
      opacity (120.68)  

      (0)

  • Truth of the matter is nobody can turn them out cheaper than China who now makes 70% of all GM's line, and will soon take over the whole market. They used to laugh at the thought of driving a rice burner, now almost all the top selling and best quality cars are rice burners.

    Posted Jun-1-2012 By 
    gcarey01 (32.18)  

    (-2)